If You Find This - Softcover

Matthew Baker was born in Michigan. He grew up in a house in the woods where the trees were as tall as towers. He and the neighbour kids ran wild through the woods with rusted machetes and homemade spears. One summer they built a trap - dug a pit in the ground, tossed stinkweed from the creek into the bottom of the pit, then covered the hole with sticks and leaves, and ran off to wait for something to fall in. They were hoping to catch some sort of monster. Instead, they caught a parent. (Some might argue that's the same thing.) IF YOU FIND THIS is his first novel. Visit him online at: www.mwektaehtabr.com

Gr 4–6—Eleven-year-old Nicholas is a music and math genius who has trouble relating to most people. Baker has placed small italicized musical dynamics (forte, pianissimo, crescendo) throughout the text, emphasizing Nick's thought patterns. When his family home is in jeopardy of being sold, Nick takes it upon himself to find legendary family heirlooms, hoping they can save his house. Despite his lack of social skills, he gains the help of other social misfits from school as well as two grandfathers sprung from a nursing home, one being his senile Grandpa Rose. Their hideout is a crumbling, haunted house where they all work at unraveling the clues to finding the treasure. Throughout comical, quirky scenarios involving a séance, a confrontation with high school toughs in smuggler tunnels, and romps in a graveyard where the final clue and solution is found, Baker maintains a steady pace. Written with tongue-in-cheek humor, the characters engage in some unsafe and unsavory practices as they go about their adventures—dueling with firecrackers, setting fire to stolen backpacks, lying, and stealing. In the hands of savvy, mature readers, this intriguing and multilayered novel will provoke interesting discussions.—D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH