Author: Petra James
ISBN: 978-1-7426-1110-5
RRP: $6.99
Arkie Sparkle is an eleven year-old treasure hunter, it’s in her blood. Her parents are archeologists so she has been raised in the world of priceless artifacts and travelling the world for new digs.
Code Crimson is the first book in a series of seven where Arkie sets off on the biggest treasure hunt of her short life; with the ultimate prize awaiting her at the end – her kidnapped parents.
The demographic audience for this series is girls 7+ so I was thrilled to receive this book from Pan Macmillan, planning to sit and read it with my Miss 8. She’s always forgetting to bring home readers from school so this was to be her nightly reading book.
The format of the book is brilliant; decent sized text, well spaced and easy on the eye complete with relevant and age-appropriate margin designs. My Miss 8 started reading but found she struggled with some of the more difficult words and archaeological can be a challenge to get your tongue around. She read the first couple of pages but found herself frustrated so we switched readers and her attention was well and truly captured. When I read Arkie to her she is enthralled.
This is a series that will hook the younger reader hungry for adventure, new knowledge and awesome technological gadgetry.
Arkie has all manner of cool gadgets to assist in her work as a treasure hunter and all of these are quickly utilised to help on her quest to uncover seven treasure to lead her to the ultimate goal – the return of her kidnapped parents.
Help Arkie decipher the clues that will uncover each new treasure learning interesting new facts along the way. For the computer savvy young reader there is an accompanying website and blog presence to keep up with all things Arkie and offer the opportunity to ask her questions.
The series consists of 7 books, one for each day on her week long hunt for her parents. Day 1 is Egypt and Arkie is searching for the first treasure in the temple of the Egyptian pharoah Ramses II – if she can find the temple buried in the Sahara.
This is an adventurous fun-filled novel that will be great for young readers, to read alone or for some quality together time being read to. My Miss 8 and I are certainly going to enjoy them and eagerly await each new volume.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!