Finders Keepers

Volume XXVII / Issue 14 - December 4 / 2020
Finders Keepers
Finders Keepers
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Finders Keepers

Author: 
Melanie McFarlane
Series: 
Orca Currents
Victoria, BC: Orca, January, 2021
115 pp., trade pbk., pdf & epub, $10.95 (pbk.)
ISBN: 
9781459827691 (pbk.)
9781459827707 (pdf)
9781459827714 (epub)
Grades: 
Grades 3-5
Ages: 
Ages 8-10
Review by: 
Review by Mary Harelkin Bishop (Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy)
2
Excerpt: 

As I watched Sam and Bug take off, a pang of jealousy stabbed me in the gut. I should have been the one taking the shell to MerKay. I’d taken all the risks. I had found the treasure. How many treasure hunters were prevented from enjoying their treasure because their moms had grounded them?

Waiting for Bug to get back was agonizing. I wanted to know everything that had happened and what MerKay and Joy were planning. But instead here I was, locked up like a common criminal.

I was lying on my bed, reading, when I heard him return. He stomped down the hall. He looked at me and then deliberately turned away. He slammed his bedroom door.

Clearly he was still mad. But I needed to know what had happened. I took a deep breath. I knocked softly on his door before pushing it open. Bug was on his bed, studying his bird book. He didn’t look up. He kept his eyes on the book, pretending I wasn’t there.

“Listen, Bug,” I said, sitting on the edge of his bed. “I’m really sorry I left you out of the plan. But I’m paying for it now. You know that Mom grounded me for a week, right?”

Bug put down his book. “A whole week is torture.”

I nodded. For once we could agree on something.

Macy and her younger brother, Bug are spending the summer at Buffalo Pound Lake in southern Saskatchewan. Their mother is a park ranger at the provincial park at the lake. Macy, 12, is a treasure hunter and is always on the lookout for anything unique. Now she is desperate to find a treasure because her mother has just announced that the family will have to move back to the city for the fall. Macy loves living at Buffalo Pound Lake. She is not looking forward to having to live in a big city soon. Macy is sure that if she finds an amazing treasure, the family will be allowed to stay at the lake for a long time.

Macy finds more than a treasure in her searches of the area. She finds a mermaid being held captive in Buffalo Pound Lake! The mermaid, MerKay, longs to be returned to the ocean and to her family, but magic is involved. She has lost a piece of her magic shell. Until MerKay has both pieces, she is stuck in Buffalo Pound Lake. Macy, her friend Sam and Bug decide to help MerKay find the missing piece of shell.

Finders Keepers, an “Orca Currents” title, is a high-interest story which is written using simple words and sentences while being action-oriented. The “Orca Currents” books are written for students in middle school who are reading below grade level.

The plot carries the story with descriptions of the characters being left to the reader’s imagination. Although the story is set in Buffalo Pound Lake Provincial Park, nothing clearly places the story there. It could have taken place at any lake or recreation area. Even though this is a high-interest book, it would have been nice to have a few details about the lake and Qu’Appelle Valley and the breathtaking hills that surround much of the lake. Also, even though bison are mentioned in the book and have an immense historical and present-day significance to the area, a bison is never seen in the story, and readers don’t get to read much about them. It would have added great interest and adventure to the story to have Macy, Bug and Sam have a safe but close encounter with a bison.

Finders Keepers will appeal to readers who enjoy a little magic and fantasy. It also combines mystery and adventure as Macy and Bug look for the missing shell piece and run into trouble with a few shady characters. All in all, Finders Keepers is a good adventure story with a touch of magic thrown in.

Recommended
Reviewer: 

Mary Harelkin Bishop is the author of the “Tunnels of Moose Jaw Adventure” series published by Coteau Books as well as many other books, including her two newest books Mistasinîy: Buffalo Rubbing Stone and Skye Bird and the Eagle Feather. She has recently retired after thirty-plus years as teacher-librarian, literacy teacher and educational consultant. Always busy and interested in kids and writing, she is currently undertaking writing projects with schools. She is looking forward to spending more time writing, giving writers’ workshops and playing with grandchildren.