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Sign up todayThe Parker Inheritance (Scholastic Gold)
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“Really, really enjoyed this book! I always love a good puzzle mystery and my heart melts for book-loving preteens. This book was great in that it not only had a fun buried treasure mystery but also friendship evolution between Candice and Brandon, Candice's reckoning with her parent's relationship, and racial tensions in the history as well as current day. Johnson weaves the main mystery with plot-filling flashbacks of the key players in the mystery that give a good historical fiction vibe too. Overall, very much enjoyed (Cherise Boothe had awesome narration as well, the perfect voicing of young character without infantilizing her).”
— Kimi • Buttonwood Books and Toys
A Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor winner * Four Starred Reviews * Over Ten Best-of-Year Lists"Powerful.... Johnson writes about the long shadows of the past with such ambition that any reader with a taste for mystery will appreciate the puzzle Candice and Brandon must solve." -- The New York Times Book Review
A Coretta Scott King Author Honor and Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor winner!"Powerful.... Johnson writes about the long shadows of the past with such ambition that any reader with a taste for mystery will appreciate the puzzle Candice and Brandon must solve." -- The New York Times Book ReviewWhen Candice finds a letter in an old attic in Lambert, South Carolina, she isn't sure she should read it. It's addressed to her grandmother, who left the town in shame. But the letter describes a young woman. An injustice that happened decades ago. A mystery enfolding its writer. And the fortune that awaits the person who solves the puzzle.So with the help of Brandon, the quiet boy across the street, she begins to decipher the clues. The challenge will lead them deep into Lambert's history, full of ugly deeds, forgotten heroes, and one great love; and deeper into their own families, with their own unspoken secrets. Can they find the fortune and fulfill the letter's promise before the answers slip into the past yet again?Varian Johnson is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Parker Inheritance, which won both Coretta Scott King Author Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor awards, The Great Greene Heist, an ALA Notable Childrenโs Book, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book, and a Texas Library Association Lone Star List selection, and the graphic novel Twins co-created with Shannon Wright, an NPR Best Book. He lives with his family near Austin, Texas. You can visit him on the web at varianjohnson.com and @varianjohnson.
Reviews
Praise for Varian Johnson
The Great Greene Heist
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book
A Los Angeles Times Summer Books pick
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing selection
An ALA ALSC Notable Children's Book List pick
A Texas Library Association Lone Star List selection
"Johnson cleverly integrates familiar issues like cafeteria food, gossip and first crushes with dashes of politics and race. His cast of characters is refreshingly diverse, both in ethnicity . . . and skill set. . . . It's a thrilling ride." - The New York Times
* "Smart, complicated, and funny." - The Horn Book Magazine, starred review
"The Great Greene Heist is one crazy cool caper!" - Rita Williams-Garcia, three-time Coretta Scott King Author Award winner
"Do yourself a favor and start reading immediately." - Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me and Liar & Spy
To Catch a Cheat
A Winter 2015-2016 Kids' Indie Next List pick
A Horn Book Summer Reading List pick
"Johnson develops a cast of diverse characters with nuance and humor. . . . [An] adventure that surprises, delights and expands the possibilities of the caper mystery." - The Washington Post
* "An intricate plot, fast-paced action, short chapters, and changing perspectives characterize this smartly structured tale." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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