What do you think?
Rate this book
Idea Miners #2
The Twisted Tree Dig
A lonely boy with a secret life in a parallel world and a panicked cry for help!
The strange man that ferries Joey, the lonely boy, into the parallel world (the source of all ideas) whisks him away to a crisis meeting with a mysterious seer, a tenacious dwarf, and his long-lost best buddy. A sweet dwarf friend of theirs has been captured by a crazed giant deep in the Digs, a mountainous region controlled by a horde of bloodthirsty trolls. Their friend’s life is in the giant’s hands—as is knowledge that will prevent the misery and death for future children in Joey’s world.
The dangers of rescue are great and will place all their lives in peril. Will Joey venture into the Digs yet again, after having barely survived a previous trip?
*** About the Series ***
The Idea Miners trilogy is written for middle-grade readers. It’s a fantasy action tale packed with excitement and mystery that young readers love. Woven throughout the books are historical facts meant to spark an interest and appreciation in the reader for the great gifts of ideas to the world. While reading the trilogy in sequence is encouraged, each book can be read as a standalone. Previous events in the storyline carry forward through dialog and flashbacks.
Overview
Structure: Each book is structured as a mysterious adventure with a revealing epilogue. The adventures involve youth from our world traveling with seers, dwarfs, and elves into a dangerous world populated with bloodthirsty trolls and fierce giants to retrieve yet-to-be discovered ideas. The epilogues summarize the discovered ideas that are obliquely hinted at in the adventures.
Premise: The premise is that all ideas originate in a parallel world called the Land of Lights (LoL). The ideas are contained in buried, glowing spheres called logos. The logos must be mined and transported to our world, which is called the Land of Harvesters (LoH). It’s only in the LoH that the logos can be understood and used by educated individuals called harvesters.
Point of view: The point of view is that of a young boy named Joey, a farm boy from 1750. (The year was chosen so the ideas ‘discovered’ are yet to be known in his world.)
Characters: The LoL is populated with logologists (overseers of discovered logos), miners (giant creatures with glowing eyes that manage the logo mining sites), seers (members with the power to visualize the contents of a logo), diggers (dwarfs skilled at digging for buried logos), trolls, elves, and others.
Miners: Miners have a special skill to sense the buried logos but are susceptible to their hidden ideas, causing them to take on bizarre characteristics of the yet-to-be discovered ideas.
Children: Young children from our world are needed to assist in persuading the miners to release their finds. The miners view those from the LoH as royalty and treat them as honored guests revealing things to them that they’ll tell no others.
Pyramid of Knowledge: The longterm objective of those working in the LoL is to complete the Pyramid of Knowledge. Once the last idea, called the One, is harvested, the LoL and the LoH will merge, and all war, disease, and famine will end.
Individual book summaries
The Lost Lake Dig: In the first book, The Lost Lake Dig, the protagonist, Joey, is confronted by a strange man who transports him into the LoL where he joins an expedition with his long-lost best friend, a seer, and two digger dwarfs. A miner is acting strangely and is believed to have found an important logo.
The Twisted Tree Dig: In the second book, The Twisted Tree Dig, Joey returns to the LoL to rescue a young dwarf friend who has been captured by a crazed miner under the influence of a logo.
The One: In the final book of the trilogy, The One, Joey attends a dwarf wedding in the LoL and is stranded as the trolls revolt and threaten the future of the worlds by destroying the mining operations throughout the LoL.
Sampling of the ideas and harvesters presented in the books
Computer technology: Professor John Atanasoff and Mr. Clifford Berry (Atanasoff-Berry Computer), Charles Babbage
Flight: Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier (balloonists), Wilber and Orville Wright
Medical: Edward Jenner (vaccination), Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin
Communications: Pony Express, Samual Morris (Morris Code), Alexander Graham Bell
Governance: Pericles (democracy)
Earth Science: Sir Isaac Newton (gravity), Benjamin Franklin (electrical fire)
Spy-craft: Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, William Stephenson
Library science: Melvil Dewey (Dewey Decimal System)
Printing systems: woodblock printing, Gutenberg Press
Miscellaneous: kerosene lamp, aluminum, the match
The strange man that ferries Joey, the lonely boy, into the parallel world (the source of all ideas) whisks him away to a crisis meeting with a mysterious seer, a tenacious dwarf, and his long-lost best buddy. A sweet dwarf friend of theirs has been captured by a crazed giant deep in the Digs, a mountainous region controlled by a horde of bloodthirsty trolls. Their friend’s life is in the giant’s hands—as is knowledge that will prevent the misery and death for future children in Joey’s world.
The dangers of rescue are great and will place all their lives in peril. Will Joey venture into the Digs yet again, after having barely survived a previous trip?
*** About the Series ***
The Idea Miners trilogy is written for middle-grade readers. It’s a fantasy action tale packed with excitement and mystery that young readers love. Woven throughout the books are historical facts meant to spark an interest and appreciation in the reader for the great gifts of ideas to the world. While reading the trilogy in sequence is encouraged, each book can be read as a standalone. Previous events in the storyline carry forward through dialog and flashbacks.
Overview
Structure: Each book is structured as a mysterious adventure with a revealing epilogue. The adventures involve youth from our world traveling with seers, dwarfs, and elves into a dangerous world populated with bloodthirsty trolls and fierce giants to retrieve yet-to-be discovered ideas. The epilogues summarize the discovered ideas that are obliquely hinted at in the adventures.
Premise: The premise is that all ideas originate in a parallel world called the Land of Lights (LoL). The ideas are contained in buried, glowing spheres called logos. The logos must be mined and transported to our world, which is called the Land of Harvesters (LoH). It’s only in the LoH that the logos can be understood and used by educated individuals called harvesters.
Point of view: The point of view is that of a young boy named Joey, a farm boy from 1750. (The year was chosen so the ideas ‘discovered’ are yet to be known in his world.)
Characters: The LoL is populated with logologists (overseers of discovered logos), miners (giant creatures with glowing eyes that manage the logo mining sites), seers (members with the power to visualize the contents of a logo), diggers (dwarfs skilled at digging for buried logos), trolls, elves, and others.
Miners: Miners have a special skill to sense the buried logos but are susceptible to their hidden ideas, causing them to take on bizarre characteristics of the yet-to-be discovered ideas.
Children: Young children from our world are needed to assist in persuading the miners to release their finds. The miners view those from the LoH as royalty and treat them as honored guests revealing things to them that they’ll tell no others.
Pyramid of Knowledge: The longterm objective of those working in the LoL is to complete the Pyramid of Knowledge. Once the last idea, called the One, is harvested, the LoL and the LoH will merge, and all war, disease, and famine will end.
Individual book summaries
The Lost Lake Dig: In the first book, The Lost Lake Dig, the protagonist, Joey, is confronted by a strange man who transports him into the LoL where he joins an expedition with his long-lost best friend, a seer, and two digger dwarfs. A miner is acting strangely and is believed to have found an important logo.
The Twisted Tree Dig: In the second book, The Twisted Tree Dig, Joey returns to the LoL to rescue a young dwarf friend who has been captured by a crazed miner under the influence of a logo.
The One: In the final book of the trilogy, The One, Joey attends a dwarf wedding in the LoL and is stranded as the trolls revolt and threaten the future of the worlds by destroying the mining operations throughout the LoL.
Sampling of the ideas and harvesters presented in the books
Computer technology: Professor John Atanasoff and Mr. Clifford Berry (Atanasoff-Berry Computer), Charles Babbage
Flight: Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier (balloonists), Wilber and Orville Wright
Medical: Edward Jenner (vaccination), Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin
Communications: Pony Express, Samual Morris (Morris Code), Alexander Graham Bell
Governance: Pericles (democracy)
Earth Science: Sir Isaac Newton (gravity), Benjamin Franklin (electrical fire)
Spy-craft: Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, William Stephenson
Library science: Melvil Dewey (Dewey Decimal System)
Printing systems: woodblock printing, Gutenberg Press
Miscellaneous: kerosene lamp, aluminum, the match
278 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2025
1 person is currently reading
2005 people want to read
About the author
P.W. Cross
3 books11 followersP.W. Cross, author of The Idea Miners trilogy, weaves middle-grade fantasy with history and creativity. A 40-year computer programming career, developing software for NASA, defense, and environmental projects, enables him to infuse his stories with imagination and innovation. Living in the mountains with his wife, Cross draws inspiration from nature. His books, including The Lost Lake Dig and The Twisted Tree Dig, captivate young readers with adventure and the power of ideas.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 16, 2025
This is the book that has started our family's descent into this trilogy.
The Twisted Tree Dig is a bit more improved than the original book as there is less world building so it doesn't seem long in that regard. Instead the books drags on rather in the unfolding of certain events that may or may not intrigue young readers.
And although you don't need to read the first book since there are lots of flashbacks I would recommend it just since of the characters shared throughout the book, especially the returning ones of consequence. Unfortunately as with the previous book although the characters hold potential very little is done to flesh them out enough to really make them interesting to the reader as a whole.
As with the previous book, it is a combination of fantasy and nonfiction in action format. And at the end readers are introduced to main ideas and discoveries that have improved mankind's existence since their discoveries.
The books are rather a bit violent and I also wasn't quite pleased with the commonly used time skips and interventions to get the story out of a messy spot but my husband still really enjoys these books so they are here to stay in our family.
***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
The Twisted Tree Dig is a bit more improved than the original book as there is less world building so it doesn't seem long in that regard. Instead the books drags on rather in the unfolding of certain events that may or may not intrigue young readers.
And although you don't need to read the first book since there are lots of flashbacks I would recommend it just since of the characters shared throughout the book, especially the returning ones of consequence. Unfortunately as with the previous book although the characters hold potential very little is done to flesh them out enough to really make them interesting to the reader as a whole.
As with the previous book, it is a combination of fantasy and nonfiction in action format. And at the end readers are introduced to main ideas and discoveries that have improved mankind's existence since their discoveries.
The books are rather a bit violent and I also wasn't quite pleased with the commonly used time skips and interventions to get the story out of a messy spot but my husband still really enjoys these books so they are here to stay in our family.
***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
February 25, 2025
Posting for a friend:
Fun adventure for boys
This is a good children's book, it kept my kids entertained, the boys and girls liked it.
Highly recommend.
I received a complimentary copy of #thetwistedtreedig by #pwcross #appalachianhouse #librarything and wasn't expected to leave a review.
#childrensbooks #theideaminersseries
Fun adventure for boys
This is a good children's book, it kept my kids entertained, the boys and girls liked it.
Highly recommend.
I received a complimentary copy of #thetwistedtreedig by #pwcross #appalachianhouse #librarything and wasn't expected to leave a review.
#childrensbooks #theideaminersseries
April 5, 2025
As a librarian, I am always on the look out for exceptional middle grade books. The Idea Miners fits the bill. I throughly enjoyed it and the unique way it encourages young minds to think about "what if". Both the young readers and I look forward to the rest of the series.
April 12, 2025
The second book in the trilogy by PW Cross is very enchanting. I think it is the type of adventure that many young boys dream about. There is plenty of adventure and magic, a few twists turns and surprises. The characters were all very well defined and unforgettable and the world building was weaved magically throughout the story, leading you right down the path with them. A great story! An absolute definite must read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews