Arkie Sparkle Treasure Hunter (series)

Arkie Sparkle treasure hunter: Code Crimson
Arkie Sparkle treasure hunter: Time trap
Author: Petra James
Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 2012

A new adventure series has just begun, and promises some great reading enjoyment for kids aged about 7 and over. Arkie Sparkle, 11 year old daughter of archeologists, and her best friend and cousin, TJ are a pair of very smart and courageous hunters. Arkie’s parents, experts at finding valued treasures all over the world, have disappeared at the hands of a mysterious kidnapper. A ransom note, containing cryptic clues, demands that 7 treasures must be found to ensure the Sparkles’ safety. Arkie’s upbringing has given her the necessary skills to launch an investigation, but she needs the help of her ‘junior genius’ cousin, TJ, with her photographic memory and vast factual knowledge, and her Bassett Hound, Cleo.

Code Crimson and Time Trap are the first two of the seven adventures that will take the treasure hunters across seven continents in pursuit of the seven treasures. In Code Crimson, the girls head off to Ancient Egypt to find the temple the Pharaoh, of Ramses II; while Time Trap takes them to the Great Wall of China. Fortunately, they have plenty of technology to help. HAL, the helpful House ALarm system monitors all coming and going at home; BLUR, their supersonic mini-jet, with night vision technology, gets them across the world at high speed; Datamax, hand held access to all museum information worldwide; parabrellas – umbrellas with parachute capabilities!

And much more!

The story’s action is highly charged and fast paced, and not without some humour. Multitudes of fascinating facts give the curious young reader plenty to explore around the main story, as we meet a host of characters from ancient history, such as Abu Simbel of Egypt or Qin Shi Huangdi, First Emperor of China. Illustrations throughout include pictures of the kidnapper’s clues, codes, maps, character sketches, and margin notes that add interesting facts or little jokes. Font variation also adds information, such as italics to indicate movement or bold and expanded text when characters may be feeling cold, hungry, wobbly, or annoyed!

Some readers may find themselves rushing for the dictionary as they read and learn some unusual words. The books are very easy and quick to read and it’s good to see appropriate words in use, as distinct from an overuse of simple words. Readers will also find plenty of inspiration to explore ideas, facts, history, science, technology and design. (TJ lists fashion and inventing as her hobbies!). An additional Facts section at the end of each book helps to enrich the reading experience by encouraging thinking about possibilities, talking about the facts on which the stories are based, and enquiring about people and places of the past.

There are many fun things about these books and the main characters are a great team. I really like the way they complement and encourage one another. The all-girl crew is a refreshing change.
I would recommend this series for independent, enquiring readers aged from 7 years up.

The beginning

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