Mysteries of Trash and Treasure – The Secret Letters

Margaret Peterson Haddix's The Secret Letters is a Mysteries of Trash and Treasure story for 8 year olds about two kids from rival house-clearing families.

What happens

Colin is twelve and his summer has been cancelled. Money's tight, so instead of day camp he's working for his mum's business, clearing out people's houses. In a shirt with a collar. In ninety-degree heat.

Across town, Nevaeh has just turned twelve too. Her dad is the Junk King off the local TV adverts, and on her birthday he crowns her Junk Princess with a crown made of old CDs. She adores her big, noisy family. She just doesn't want anything to do with junk.

And the two families? They can't stand each other.

The chapters take turns between Colin and Nevaeh, so you get both sides of the feud.

Colin's chapters are the quiet, thoughtful ones. He keeps noticing the sad old things people throw away. A suncatcher bleached by the sun. A wonky clay pot somebody's mum made after a stroke. He secretly photographs them so they won't be forgotten (and doesn't tell a soul).

Nevaeh's first job is opening a storage unit that nobody has touched since 1989. Her family are expecting treasure. Instead it's completely empty, apart from one envelope and a very strange letter. And within minutes her family have decided exactly who's to blame. Colin's mum.

Then there's the shoebox. While clearing an attic, Colin comes across a bundle of old letters between two best friends from the 1970s, and he can't bring himself to throw them out. That's where the bigger mystery starts.

It's a slow burn rather than a thriller. There's lots about families, money worries and why we hang on to the things we do. Is a stained old Tupperware box rubbish or a memory? Your reader might have an opinion!

Both main characters are twelve and it reads like a longer novel, so it'll suit a confident reader who likes a thoughtful story.

What to read next

Fancy another small-town mystery hidden inside old things? The Lost Library is a lovely next step. A little free library appears on the town green overnight, and a big orange cat knows exactly where its books came from.