Double Eagle

by Sneed B. Collard III

Overview

Mike and Kyle must outrun both a hurricane and thieves who will do anything to get their hands on a fortune in Confederate gold!

The year is 1862. The Skink, a Confederate ship, is attacked by Union forces and sinks off the Alabama coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the ship was rumored to be carrying newly minted gold coins, no trace of the wreck and not even a single piece of Confederate gold is ever found.

Fast forward to 1973. Mike is prepared for another routine summer in Pensacola with his marine biologist father. But plans suddenly change and Mike finds himself on Shipwreck Island—right near the site where the Skink went down. Mike and his new friend Kyle are intrigued by a salvage ship anchored just offshore. Some say it was brought in by fortune hunters, but when the boys scale a fence at the fort on the island, they realize that the fortune hunters may be looking in the wrong place.

There in the sand-covered floor of an abandoned chamber they spot something shiny: an old double-eagle gold coin. Mike and Kyle agree to keep their discovery a secret and start their own investigation into the shipwreck and the missing gold.

Award-winning author Sneed B. Collard III blends history and mystery to create a dramatic, page-turning story featuring a strong friendship and plenty of action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561456062
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	05/17/2011
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	868 KB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Sneed B. Collard III is a biologist, world traveler, speaker, and author of more than forty books for young people. Collard holds degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He received the 2006 Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award presented annually to "an author or illustrator whose total body of work has contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children." He lives in Montana.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 4–8—Mike, 13, reluctantly boards a plane from California to Florida to spend the summer with his divorced father, who is a marine biologist. He is told after he lands that they will not be in Pensacola but on Shipwreck Island off the coast of Alabama. He feels stranded and neglected, thinking that the weeks will drag with little to keep him occupied. After a slow beginning, Mike's summer of 1973 becomes more and more exciting when he and a new friend make an unexpected discovery at an old Civil War fort. The boys are just beginning to unravel the mystery surrounding their find when a hurricane threatens and they discover that thieves are after their treasure. Mike's narrative moves quickly with likable and believable characters. The story will have particular appeal to readers with an interest in historical places and artifacts.—Denise Moore, O'Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD

School Library Journal

While visiting his father on a barrier island near Mobile, Ala., 13-year-old Mike Gilbert finds a friend, a gold coin, lost treasure and more excitement than he'd bargained for. This suspenseful adventure opens with an introductory section describing the last run of the Skink, a paddle-wheel steamer escaping New Orleans in 1862. More than 100 years later, in June 1973, a salvage boat searches for the wreck just offshore, while Mike and Kyle explore a crumbling Civil War fort where they find a gold coin that might have been part of the load the Skink carried. Not surprisingly, the boys attract the attention of other treasure seekers, some of them armed. Although the setup requires some historical background and coin-collecting details, Mike's first-person narration moves along quickly, the action spiraling to a climactic confrontation just before a devastating hurricane. A final chapter-a news story dated November 2009-allows readers to imagine a highly satisfactory ending. Reluctant readers carried along by the plot will encounter some interesting history along the way. (Thriller. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

A diverting, page-turning mystery with some nicely integrated bits of Southern history….[the] plot has enough twists and turns to hold readers’ attention to the end.

From the Publisher