Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and the Mystery of Echo Lake by Steven L. Zeichner

Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and the Mystery of Echo Lake by Steven Zeichner

Publisher:  CreateSpace
Publish Date:  Sept. 2, 2011
ISBN:  978-1463700805
Pages:  194

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.


A quick note before we begin:  this is definitely a middle grade book.

The Jinson twins are twelve year old Debbie and Joe.  The story is told from Debbie's perspective.  The twins decide to advertise for summer jobs instead of attending camp.  They get hired by Mrs. Gray to clean her house.  Mrs. Gray finally tells them that her deceased husband, a sea-captain, left her a stash of gold coins, but she can't find it and now she might lose everything as she's out of money.

There's some helpful adults along the way, like Mr. Benjamin, who runs the recycling center.  There's also some villains: three older boys who think the twins are on their 'turf' and a guy in a blue truck who seems to stalk the twins.

The twins learn to use science and reasoning in hunting down the long-lost treasure.

It's a cute mystery story, it reminded me of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN stories.  Yeah, I may have dated myself a bit right there.  HA!

Aside from a few typos and grammatical errors, the book is wonderful and would be a fun summer read for the middle schoolers!