The Smuggler's Treasure (American Girl History Mysteries, #1) by Sarah Masters Buckey

The Smuggler's Treasure (American Girl History Mysteries, #1) Reviews

• 
  Hannah Linder

  Been forever since I read this book, but I remember I really liked it. :) I didn't have the whole series, but I enjoyed the ones I read very much! :)
• 
  Ethan B

  I read The Smuggler's treasure and I think the theme is don't give up, because they kept trying and not finding anything but a lot of thinking and looking they found the clues.
• 
  Agnė

  An enjoyable historical mystery. It's a great book to look at through the Marxist critical lens :)
• 
  Jacinta Meredith

  Great kids book, love seeing parts of history normally not referenced - not going to lie, I always love rereading my childhood favorites.
• 
  The other John

  This is one of the American Girl History Mysteries. It's the tale of Elisabet Holder, an eleven-year-old Boston girl whose father has been impressed by the British navy in 1814. Her mother is dead and her guardian decides to send her off to live with and aunt and uncle in New Orleans. When she arrives there, she learns that her uncle has died while she was en route and that he has left behind a mystery--a map of the surrounding bayous that would be worth a pretty price to the local government, smugglers, and perhaps the British army. The mystery unravels while Elisabet struggles to make the transition from the daughter of an upper class Boston merchant to a working class, orphaned shop girl. While I was delighted to read a story that wasn't set on the Eastern Seaboard for a change, the story itself is rather pedestrian. Neither the characters nor the story drew me in, and the descriptions of the setting seemed rather lackluster. Still, it serves as waiting room material.
• 
  Ron

  Marketed as "Intrigue for girls 10 and up"
  The Smuggler's Treasure seems to hit the right notes. A pleasant mystery set in a well-developed historical circumstance. Age and era appropriate notes on slavery, class and gender issues.
  
  A good read.
• 
  Meghan

  There's a bit of classism at first and even when Elizabet starts to overcome that, she's still rather self-involved and not the most likeable.
• 
  Elevetha

  Loved it! Recommended. 8+.
• 
  Heather

  I found this book by pure chance at a street fair this summer. I never knew about these books from American Girl's and now I'm going to be looking for more of them to read.
  
  Elisabet starts off the book as a bit of a brat, but it actually makes a lot of sense. She's grown up the daughter of a wealthy ship's captain - with a fine house and servants and all the things that go with it. Now, she's been ripped away from that life and sent to live with her aunt and uncle in New Orleans. She expects that they live the same way she did in Boston. Upon arriving, she realizes that she is quite wrong in that expectation.
  
  Not only is her uncle dead, but she's not going to a fine home with servants to wait on her. She's going to the home of a shopkeeper and she's going to have to learn how to work hard herself. Eventually, she makes friends with Marie and Raoul and Claude.
  
  There were some things that didn't surprise me at all - the identity of the ghost, the fact that the story has a happy ending (this is a story from American Girl after all). Other things were a little surprising: just what the treasure was and how it's important to the story was a surprise. I also found it really amusing to see this little blond rich girl about Elisabet's age pop up: Caroline. Now, she was nothing like the Caroline that the same company had out a few years ago, but... it was still kind of funny.
  
  Yeah... this book is great for the target audience: 10-13 year old girls. There's enough of a mystery there to get them thinking and the clues are there for them to solve it, along with Elisabet and Marie.
• 
  Stasia

  I loved these books as a 'tween'. I remember loving the way the matte covers felt, and they had a lovely new book smell that I can still remember while reading these. And, this series is well written and suspenseful, and the different time periods throughout keep it interesting. It's a personal goal of mine to read the whole series again this year.
• 
  Linda

  The American Girl series has been on the shelves for awhile. Recently realised the third in the series is an Edgar award winner. I started with the first. Pleasantly surprised to find that it is a fairly well written adventure mystery, with a short history brief at the end.
• 
  Kelly

  I believe I have read this one before and remembered the ending faintly. But it is quite good. Not as mystery with multiple possibilities and foes, but definitely good. I enjoy Elisabet's growth from spoiled brat to hard-worker. I really want to go to New Orleans.
• 
  Fi

  Four stars for the nostalgia but it’s probably more like 3 for how well it holds up… I remembered certain scenes from reading it that gave me a chill when I was younger! I wonder if this could have been the start of my love of mysteries.
• 
  Justine W.

  I read this when I was a kid... and it scared the snot out of me. It’s very entertainedinf for that age bracket!
• 
  Katie Merkel

  This is a great story. I recommend it for kids who like history and/or mysteries. Some parts are very intense, so I recommend they read it when the sun is still up.
• 
  Grace Lynch

  Really loved this mystery when I read it!
• 
  Kathy

  My students enjoyed this book about a young girl trying to rescue her father during the War of 1812. I enjoyed the mystery and history involved. Fun read.
• 
  A. L. Rogers

  Ri
• 
  Annie Eichman

  The history mysteries are very interesting and rich with historical events.
• 
  Michelle

  A fun little read. Loved the characters and story enough to wish this was a full American girl series.
• 
  Katt Hansen

  History and mystery combine in the most excellent way in this story put out by the makers of American Girl. You meet a new girl in this story - one that has no doll (sad sigh) but has all the gumption and spirit of the other American Girls. Elisabet has just come to New Orleans during the War of 1812 and seems to have walked right into a mystery.
  
  What I loved was this wasn't just an adventure story. There was a lot about what i means to change more than a location, but a way of life as she's lost not only her father and everything she's known, but also her privileged status and now must be a working girl in a bakery.
  
  I'm struck by just how hard these kids work too...thank goodness for child labor laws nowadays, right?
  
  It's a great book, and one I enjoyed reading. I'll look for more by that author for sure!
• 
  Colleen

  "...Arriving in the strange new city is, for Elisabet, like going to another country - the Louisiana Purchase has only just occurred recently, so the residents are still very much French or Spanish at heart. On top of this, she finds out that she is expected to work in her aunt and uncle's bakery as a shop assistant; this is very different from living in Boston with her father, where she went to school and had servants to wait on her. When she learns news of the ship that took her father prisoner, however, and is determined to rescue him from the British, she soon learns the value of friendship despite social class boundaries. ..."
  
  For full review, please visit me at Here Be Bookwyrms on Blogger!
  
  
  http://herebebookwyrms.blogspot.com/2...
• 
  Rebecca

  In 1814, after her father is captured by the British, eleven-year-old Elisabet Holder must leave Boston to live with her aunt and uncle in New Orleans. When she arrives, she learns her uncle is dead, her aunt has gone to Baton Rogue, and she is expected to work in her aunt's bakery like a servant. When Elisabet learns of a treasure her uncle hid before he died, she decides to search for it so she can ransom her father. But that's only the beginning of the story. THE SMUGGLER'S TREASURE is an exciting combination of mystery, adventure, and history.
• 
  Kathleen Joy

  I really liked this book. I liked the characters,I liked the plot, like many mysteries throughout the book they were trying to find out who the villain was. And the bad guy in this book is the the person was most likely to be it and the person was also the meanest person in the book. So it was not a surpise when they found out it was that person who did it when it should of been. I would of liked this book much better if someone els was the villain. But either than that I enjoyed reading this book.