What do you think?
Rate this book
Lost Treasures
True stories of people who found sunken Spanish ships...a seven-million dollar painting...the largest T-Rex bones ever discovered...and more! Who hasn't dreamed of searching for something valuable or rare that has been lost, abandoned, forgotten or simply overlooked by others? From pirate booty and exotic coins to missing silver mines and lost cities, the allure of finding lost treasure is very real. Fame, fortune or - at the very least - the thrill of adventure, await the treasure hunter. Readers find out what amazing treasure lies waiting to be discovered, and some which have already been found...sometimes right under their noses.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 4, 2006
About the author
Larry Verstraete
24 books25 followersAt nine years old, there were subtle signs that Larry Verstraete might be a writer some day. While thumbing through a toy catalog just before Christmas, he found, and then later received, the perfect gift - a small toy printing press. The summer after, Larry and a friend started an ambitious publishing project, aiming to become as he puts it, ‘rich and famous’ with the printing press.
Their goal was to publish and sell a newsletter filled with stories gathered around the neighborhood. For a week, the two would-be reporters spied on neighbors, filling notepads with facts and observations. But when they started setting the stories into type on the printing press, the project floundered. The work was too boring, too tedious, and they abandoned dreams of fame and wealth in favor of more enjoyable summer pastimes like swimming and biking.
That was Larry’s earliest foray into writing, and although that venture was a gob-smacking failure, the drive to write simmered below the surface for years. One day, older now with a science degree under his belt and a teaching career already well in hand, fate intervened. While waiting for a haircut in a salon, a magazine ad for a correspondence writing course caught his eye, rekindling his desire to write and be published. He clipped out the ad, enrolled in the course and as the saying goes ‘the rest is history’.
One of his first course assignments was to write a non-fiction article for children. He quickly latched on to a topic that fascinated him – accidental discoveries in science. By the end of the course, he’d written about 25 short stories, each telling about a breakthrough in science that owed much to a mistake, mishap, coincidence or spectacular blunder. That became his first Scholastic book – The Serendipity Effect (later re-issued under the title Accidental Discoveries: From Laughing Gas to Dynamite).
Since then, Larry has published 13 non-fiction books and 1 middle grade novel. The roots of his writing lie deep in his own personal experiences and his interests in science, history and true adventure. For Larry, ideas usually begin with an intriguing story, event or fact, something that triggers his curiosity. He and his wife are devoted travelers, and each trip offers fresh opportunities to discover new writing material. Becoming lost on a mountain hike in Colorado, for example, sparked the idea for Survivors:True Death-Defying Escapes, and visiting the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona – the place where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto – eventually became C is for Compare in his book S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet.
Some key accomplishments of Larry’s career include:
•Two-time recipient of Ontario’s Silver Birch Award for Non-fiction (Survivors: True Death-Defying Escapes; At the Edge: Daring Acts in Desperate Times)
•Two-time recipient of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year for Young People Award (Lost Treasures: True Stories of Discovery; S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet)
•Awarded B.C.’s Red Cedar Award (Survivors: True Death-Defying Escapes)
•Nominated for the Norma Fleck Award (Accidental Discoveries: From Laughing Gas to Dynamite)
•Nominated for the New York Reading Association Charlotte Award & Alberta’s Rocky Mountain Award (Surviving the Hindenburg)
•Among other distinctions: Honor winner, 2014 Story Telling World Resource Awards (Surviving the Hindenburg); Runner-up, 2012 USA Best Book Awards, Children's Picture Book (Surviving the Hindenburg); Outstanding Science Trade Book of 2011 by the National Science Teachers Association and Children’s Book Council (S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet); Selected, 2001 Canadian Toy Testing Council, 25 Great Books, (Whose Bright Idea Was It?)
Their goal was to publish and sell a newsletter filled with stories gathered around the neighborhood. For a week, the two would-be reporters spied on neighbors, filling notepads with facts and observations. But when they started setting the stories into type on the printing press, the project floundered. The work was too boring, too tedious, and they abandoned dreams of fame and wealth in favor of more enjoyable summer pastimes like swimming and biking.
That was Larry’s earliest foray into writing, and although that venture was a gob-smacking failure, the drive to write simmered below the surface for years. One day, older now with a science degree under his belt and a teaching career already well in hand, fate intervened. While waiting for a haircut in a salon, a magazine ad for a correspondence writing course caught his eye, rekindling his desire to write and be published. He clipped out the ad, enrolled in the course and as the saying goes ‘the rest is history’.
One of his first course assignments was to write a non-fiction article for children. He quickly latched on to a topic that fascinated him – accidental discoveries in science. By the end of the course, he’d written about 25 short stories, each telling about a breakthrough in science that owed much to a mistake, mishap, coincidence or spectacular blunder. That became his first Scholastic book – The Serendipity Effect (later re-issued under the title Accidental Discoveries: From Laughing Gas to Dynamite).
Since then, Larry has published 13 non-fiction books and 1 middle grade novel. The roots of his writing lie deep in his own personal experiences and his interests in science, history and true adventure. For Larry, ideas usually begin with an intriguing story, event or fact, something that triggers his curiosity. He and his wife are devoted travelers, and each trip offers fresh opportunities to discover new writing material. Becoming lost on a mountain hike in Colorado, for example, sparked the idea for Survivors:True Death-Defying Escapes, and visiting the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona – the place where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto – eventually became C is for Compare in his book S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet.
Some key accomplishments of Larry’s career include:
•Two-time recipient of Ontario’s Silver Birch Award for Non-fiction (Survivors: True Death-Defying Escapes; At the Edge: Daring Acts in Desperate Times)
•Two-time recipient of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year for Young People Award (Lost Treasures: True Stories of Discovery; S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet)
•Awarded B.C.’s Red Cedar Award (Survivors: True Death-Defying Escapes)
•Nominated for the Norma Fleck Award (Accidental Discoveries: From Laughing Gas to Dynamite)
•Nominated for the New York Reading Association Charlotte Award & Alberta’s Rocky Mountain Award (Surviving the Hindenburg)
•Among other distinctions: Honor winner, 2014 Story Telling World Resource Awards (Surviving the Hindenburg); Runner-up, 2012 USA Best Book Awards, Children's Picture Book (Surviving the Hindenburg); Outstanding Science Trade Book of 2011 by the National Science Teachers Association and Children’s Book Council (S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet); Selected, 2001 Canadian Toy Testing Council, 25 Great Books, (Whose Bright Idea Was It?)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 11, 2015
Scholastic Books is a wonderful publisher whose literature I enjoy immensely. It is for children but a lot of its content approaches adults, replete with subjects like this that are as educational for me. A special pleasure is the likelihood of these authors being from Winnipeg. Larry Verstraete is such a one. I anticipated Canadian coverage because we have numerous treasures and mysteries. This however, is a very well-chosen sampling from around the world. I was grateful it didn’t centre on the United States, which already receives excessive coverage.
One note hampered enjoyment for me. Maybe the author isn’t an animal person, or minimized their life worth unintentionally. To my dismay, Manitoba’s coverage went to a hunter. Fair enough to say he was after moose when he found notable meteors but leave it at that. Unfortunately, the author gushed: “rocks were as natural to this guy as hunting”; as if that were a desirable attribute. When discussing the “Dead Sea Scrolls”; the instrumental boy safeguarding his goat, was trivialized by this observation: "something as unimportant as that, led to this discovery". However, Larry truly does excellent and engaging work. With the sour note above, we just miss five stars due to a drier stretch of sea and beach-buried treasure stories. Seafaring feels farfetched where I live. Too many of them disconnect me.
I enjoyed myself outside those chapters. On the other hand, I thrive on stories about valuable keepsakes and historic items at home: something we pick-up, or come across. These simplest, individual coups inspire plausible possibilities for all of us. It gets us wondering which grand discoveries might be around us. They can by anything: especially the no-longer extinct fish! My favourite story is about ancient murals that were overlooked at a school. Larry’s compilation is an all-around pleasure.
One note hampered enjoyment for me. Maybe the author isn’t an animal person, or minimized their life worth unintentionally. To my dismay, Manitoba’s coverage went to a hunter. Fair enough to say he was after moose when he found notable meteors but leave it at that. Unfortunately, the author gushed: “rocks were as natural to this guy as hunting”; as if that were a desirable attribute. When discussing the “Dead Sea Scrolls”; the instrumental boy safeguarding his goat, was trivialized by this observation: "something as unimportant as that, led to this discovery". However, Larry truly does excellent and engaging work. With the sour note above, we just miss five stars due to a drier stretch of sea and beach-buried treasure stories. Seafaring feels farfetched where I live. Too many of them disconnect me.
I enjoyed myself outside those chapters. On the other hand, I thrive on stories about valuable keepsakes and historic items at home: something we pick-up, or come across. These simplest, individual coups inspire plausible possibilities for all of us. It gets us wondering which grand discoveries might be around us. They can by anything: especially the no-longer extinct fish! My favourite story is about ancient murals that were overlooked at a school. Larry’s compilation is an all-around pleasure.
October 11, 2023
One of my favourite reads when I was younger for inspiring both imagination and interest in history. This book came with me on countless camping trips, was read over and over, contains notes in the margins, and has become so well read and loved that the cover has been taped back on multiple times now.
Lost Treasures contains stories of amazing archaeological finds as well as rumours of lost treasures that have yet to be discovered.
While some of the information is outdated since its original publishing, it is still a perfect introduction to history, archaeology, and anthropology for any interested young reader.
Lost Treasures contains stories of amazing archaeological finds as well as rumours of lost treasures that have yet to be discovered.
While some of the information is outdated since its original publishing, it is still a perfect introduction to history, archaeology, and anthropology for any interested young reader.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews