Candice has been missing her friends back home, and the only possible would-be friend is shy Brandon Jones, the 11-year-old bookish kid living across the street. They don't really click at first, but when Brandon is picked on by two boys who get a little rough, he finds himself in Candice's house. With nothing else to do, they head up to the attic looking for books. While rummaging around up there, Candice finds a letter containing the first challenge that began her grandmother's search for the buried treasure ten years earlier, and it was in a box marked For Candice. After the reading the letter, Candice is also convinced that there is buried treasure somewhere in Lambert and she sure would like to find it, then maybe they wouldn't have to sell their house in Atlanta. But who are the people mentioned in the letter: Enoch, Leanne, and Siobhan Washington, and the Allen family? And why did the letter writer want to ruin the Allen family? And why did certain people in Lambert fail to protect the Washingtons and against what? And how could Abigail Caldwell have made right what once went so utterly wrong? Oh, yes, and who wrote the letter in the first place?
Most importantly, how was Candice supposed to find the answers to her questions with only her father's old iPod and not cell phone or computer to connect to the internet? Candice decides it's time to share her discovery with Brandon, and as the two investigate the mystery of the buried treasure, they also begin to become friends.
Candice also has her grandmother to thank for sending her all those puzzle books year after year or was she being primed for this mystery? And then there's her grandmother's guiding words of wisdom: "Just because you don't see the path doesn't mean it's not there." (pg. 28). The more Candice and Brandon research, the more they discover, and the puzzle surrounding the mystery of the buried treasure in Lambert, South Carolina reveals the the town's racial history of bigotry, segregation, and hate, attitudes that are still present among some of its citizens. So, why would anyone ever want to leave a treasure worth $40,000,000 to this town?
The Parker Inheritance is one of those books that will keep you reading simply because you can't put it down. I love a good mystery and I particularly loved this one because to the way it shows readers that, as William Faulkner once wrote, "the past is never dead. It's not even past," it may just be buried as Lamber had buried its past until two determined, smart kids come along and dig it up, forcing the citizens to finally really look at their past history. As each new puzzle piece is solved, a flashback to earlier times reveals the backstory of those people mentioned in the letter, including the mysterious letter writer.
Candice and Brandon are great characters. Candice's desire to solve the mystery and hopefully save the house she grew up in and her parent's marriage and her wish to clear her beloved grandmother's name are the driving factors for her obsession with the hidden treasure. She is a nicely flawed protagonist, as is Brandon, who is bullied by kids who believe he is gay. The town of Lambert is a third character, a place of hidden secrets under a thin deceptive, decorative veneer just waiting to be exposed.
The interjection of Lambert's history and its treatment of the Washington family give depth to Candice and Brandon's discoveries, and also provides a very realistic picture of what live was life for African Americans in living there. Johnson explores themes of race relations, racial identity, social injustice, preconceived ideas, acceptance, divorce, and sexual identity. This makes it sound like an issue-heavy book, but Johnson expertly keeps a light touch when needed. Also, you may wish to read or reread The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, which gets more than a passing shoutout.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library
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