MISSING ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN

MISSING ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, by Elise Broach (Henry Holt 2011)(ages 8-12)(first in a series).  Eleven-year-old Simon, ten-year-old Henry, and six-year-old Jack have been moved by their parents to a small Arizona town, over which looms the forbidding Superstition Mountain.  They've been warned not to go there, but when Josie, their cat disappears, what choice do they have?

Once there, they find three skulls and decide that the many rumors about the mysterious place just might be true.  Why have people been disappearing for the past sixty years?  Is there really a mother lode of gold there?  Together with their next-door neighbor, ten-year-old Delilah, the Parker siblings embark to solve the mystery...

MISSING ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN offers a thrilling and chilling mystery-adventure with an engaging cast and otherworldly setting.  With various threads left dangling, readers will be eagerly awaiting the next installment.     

MASTERPIECE, by Elise Broach

MASTERPIECE (Henry Holt, 2008), by Elise Broach. Marvin is a beetle. James is an eleven year old boy. When James receives a a pen-and-ink set for his birthday from his artist father, Marvin discovers he has a talent for drawing. When he presents his first piece as a birthday present to James, the miniature is mistakenly attributed to the boy. Which leads to James (Marvin) copying a Durer so as to foil an art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of art...

MASTERPIECE is full of charm and intrigue, and, in short, is a heartwarming novel of mystery and friendship and Albrecht Durer.