Secret of the Three Treasures

by Janni Lee Simner

Tiernay, an eleven-year-old aspiring sleuth, is fast on the trail of Revolutionary War gold that is rumored to be buried in her town, but running for her life, scaling cliffs in the middle of the night, and getting trapped underground is definitely not part of her plan.

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Adventure, Childrens

134 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Janni Lee Simner lives in the Arizona desert, where the plants know how to bite and the dandelions really do have thorns; in spite of these things--or maybe because of them--she's convinced she lives in one of the most stunning places on earth.

Janni has published four novels for young adults, the Bones of Faerie trilogy and Thief Eyes, and she wrote the script for the video game The Huntsman: Winter's Curse.

She's also published four books for younger readers--most recently Tiernay West, Professional Adventurer--as well as more than 30 short stories, including appearances in Cricket magazine and the Welcome to Bordertown anthology.

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

I test-drove this title and the previous--The Secret of the Three Treasures, a killingly bland title imposed by the publisher--on several classes of fourth and fifth graders, and in both cases, every single hand shot sky high when I gave them the author's preferred title: Tiernay West, Professional Adventurer. (About the first choice, one boy muttered, "It better be real treasures, and not some book about three things you have to learn." When I later read the book to the class, they discovered quite happily that there really are three treasures!)

Tiernay is the heroine—she prefers her dad's last name, West, because he travels all over the world writing adventure stories about a cool heroine. Tiernay indulges in Walter-Mitty-like internal adventures while practicing at adventure until she can get into a real one, but unlike Mitty, who was too afraid to stand up for himself, Tiernay has the courage of her convictions. And so she does her very best to become an adventurer, despite her mom really wanting her to settle down and be a practical schoolgirl.

Like when Mom takes Tiernay out to dinner with her friend Greg and his son Kevin, Tiernay orders squid and snails, because she figures an adventurer has to get used to eating anything. Tiernay soon gets her tip-off to adventure, and she is no slouch about seeking more clues and doing her detective work in spite of snippy school-girls with their secret clubs, neighborhood bullies, and her exasperated, practical mom. The voice is wonderful--I was laughing out loud, even when (as an adult reader) I was fairly sure where the story was going. Tiernay, like Harriet the Spy many years ago, is true to herself: what she is inside, she is outside. Her reactions, her grit, and how her tale is narrated, make this one a must for any kid, or kid at heart, who always wanted to have adventures.

[Francesca Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiernay Markowitz, a.k.a. Tierney West, isn’t about to let being in elementary school stop her from emulating T. J. Redstone, the adventurer heroine of her dad’s novels. Dragged along to dinner with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s son Kevin (who’s in Tiernay’s grade), she happens to overhear the couple at the next table talking about the possibility of Revolutionary War gold in Tiernay’s small Connecticut town—and the game is afoot.

Tiernay is a funny, resourceful, likeable heroine, full of humorous observations. Forced to get dressed up for the dinner, she thinks,

T. J. Redstone wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt and dress shoes. She probably wouldn’t be caught alive in them, either.

Later, when she wants to rescue Kevin from a kid at school who’s teasing him, she thinks,

In the karate class I’m taking, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of ways to disable your opponent. Unfortunately, I’d only been to one class so far, and all we’d had time for were warm-ups and going over the rules. I hadn’t even gotten to kick anything yet.

She doesn’t let that stop her, though: she relies on time-tested skills: I stretched out my foot and tripped him.

Each chapter starts with Tiernay’s imagination of the T. J. Redstone-type situation she’s in, and then opens up into the actual reality. Chapter 8, for instance begins with our heroine scaling a sheer cliff:

The cliff wall was a mile high and sheer as ice. Tiernay West carefully felt for every handhold, every possible foothold, however slight.

Reality is a little different, but still quite challenging:

I set a foot into the face of the bluff. The foot sank into damp earth, making a foothold where there hadn’t been one before. I reached up, grabbing a root with one hand, more mud with the other, and I started scrambling up, hand, foot, hand, foot. It was a lot like climbing a tree, only squishier.

Tiernay’s pursuit of Revolutionary War gold turns up a riddle, a stolen sword, and surprising revelations about her own ancestors. Kevin, unwilling to get involved at first, grows into the role of sidekick, and although he’s not as good at scaling a bluff as Tiernay, he does have a handy way with a flashlight in a dark pinch. All in all, a great read for middle-grade adventurers.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a completely charming middle grade story about a girl who wants to be a professional adventurer. Tiernay West is a wonderfully eccentric character who will win your heart and stick in your memory. I can't help but hope that Janni will share more of Tiernay's adventures someday.

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tiernay West is a fun character. She stands up to bullies, introduces herself as a "professional adventurer," and doesn't care what other people think. She's not perfect, which is great--sometimes she gets in trouble for her adventures, her methods for dealing with bullies are not always the best, and she still sometimes feels left out, even if she tells herself she doesn't care what the other kids think.

Tiernay West, Professional Adventurer is a short middle-grade read. (On my e-reader, it clocked in at only 77 pages.) But Simner manages to pack a lot of adventure into the book, and kids eager to know how it ends will be glad they can get through it quickly.

My favorite aspect of the book is the juxtaposition between Tiernay's eloquent, adventure-story-inspired internal monologue, which marks the beginning of each chapter, and the reality of her present situation. For example, from the first page:

Tiernay West stalked through the forest, silent as the great cats of the African plains, deadly as the fabled Royal Assassins of Arakistan. With the eyes that had gotten her dubbed "Little Eagle," she scanned the verdant undergrowth, searching for the treasure hidden within.

Some motion made her pause. The shifting of a leaf, a scent upon the humid wind--with a single fluid motion she was up among the branches of an ancient oak. Adjusting her hat against the slanting sun, she settled in to watch. To wait.
***
"Tiernay! Tiernay, come out here this instant!"

I remained hidden among the branches of my favorite oak, not moving, not breathing. Well, trying not to breathe. You'd think that if Houdini could stay underwater for four minutes, if T.J. Redstone could conceal herself in the airless tomb of Arakistan's Hidden City for nearly a quarter hour, I could hold my breath long enough for Mom to cross the backyard.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my eight year old daughter, an immensely enjoyable experience because of the high quality of the writing. The style lends itself perfectly to being read aloud, so I can imagine that this would work well as a class novel. The plot becomes progressively more engaging: at the start its suburban setting and formulaic Secret-Seven style mystery are a little lacklustre but from the point where the protagonists are trapped by genuine criminals, it becomes unputdownable.

Characterisation is necessarily sketchy, given the short length of the book, but the heroine is sufficiently well drawn to make up for two dimensional minor characters. She’s a quirky character, a version of the generic adventure-loving tomboy taken to uncompromising extremes. I can’t imagine that many readers will be able to identify completely with Tiernay but many will see parts of themselves in her rebellion against parents, peers and expectations.

The short length is of course a bonus for reluctant readers but at the end my daughter was disappointed that it finished so abruptly. We are both hoping for a sequel or even a series and will look out for more books by the same writer.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simner has created a lovably quirky character in Tiernay West. Her father, now divorced from her mother, travels the world gathering information for his adventure novels, and Tiernay identifies strongly with the female protagonist in those books. She is determined to be an adventurer, even though she's still in elementary school. She gains a reluctant ally in Kevin, the son of her mother's boyfriend, and the two research an old Revolutionary War legend of treasure. Her discoveries lead her and Kevin to follow the school bully to a deserted house, where they find a cache of computers that had just been stolen from their school, and then find the treasure of the gold coins hidden in 1776. This story is fresh and interesting and would make a solid addition to an elementary school or classroom library. Grades 4-6.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for SRC, but it's adorable. Read the whole thing cover to cover in one sitting and was smiling the whole time.

[Janni]

Originally published as Secret of the Three Treasures, this new ebook edition has a new title--Tiernay West, Professional Adventurer--and a new look!