Secret of Abbott's Cave

Eleven-year-old Randy Wilcox and his friends, Stewart, Jeff, and Hal, think that life in New Market, Virginia, is boring. They are hoping that their little town is more exciting than they think it is, so they buy a police scanner. Besides, they want to own their own detective agency someday, so knowing police codes could come in handy. While the boys are getting ready for the camping trip, news comes across the scanner of a bank robbery. The boys decide to continue with their plans for the weekend and continue packing--after all, the bank robbers will be long gone and their trip will be completely uneventful--or will it? This is an exciting read guaranteed to keep the reluctant readers attention. I didn't find anything I disliked about Secret of Abbott's Cave. My son is anxious to get his hand on the book and read it for himself. The Police Codes are at the back of the book. Which my husband that was cool, since he works for our local Police Dept. Stories for Children Editor, VS Grenier

My older two boys who are 8 and 10 years old LOVED these books. I have one boy who doesn't like to read, but it was easy getting him to read everyday with this series of books! They would come tell me everything that happened in the part they read that day. I'm so glad I found an adventure that they like to read and isn't harsh on their little minds.

Reviewed by Alex Gonzalez (age 14) for Reader Views (4/06) In "Secret of Abbott's Cave," Randy Wilcox (the main character) and his friends (Stewart Adkins, Jeff Stevens, and Hal Conti) form a club called the Hilton Park Road Detective Club. They decide to get a police scanner radio so that when crime happens, they can be at the crime scene. When they go to Sunday school one day, they get a new teacher and have a lesson that will affect their future adventures. The teacher talks about how Jesus made a blind man see, and they did an activity where the Sunday school class was in total darkness and some of them had to go through a blind "obstacle course". Randy and his friends like cave exploring although they haven't explored any caves yet. They take a class on safety and what to bring in caves. Later on, Randy and his friends go to explore a cave on Jeff Steven's uncle's property. When they get picked up they hear the police scanner talking about a bank robbery and two suspects that were on the run. When the friends reach their destination, the set up camp near the cave and in the morning, they see the two bank robbers go towards the direction of the cave. In the morning the friends go in the cave and find the money and later the robbers come and follow the kids deep in the seemingly endless cave. Through great leadership and trust, Randy and his friends make it out the cave safely and end up getting the robbers arrested. Randy and his friends come out as town heroes. The author really made this book easy on the eyes because it didn't have many "big" words. Also, the author wrote in such a way that I could picture exactly what was going on, such as when Stewart was looking down into a hole in the cave and dropped his helmet. I could hear the flashlight coming apart from the helmet and breaking into the wall. I like this book because it was easy to read, yet it had me sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen to the kids in the next sentence! This book is great if you want a quick read and like adventure books. Also, this book is intended for the younger ages, but in my opinion anyone of any age could enjoy this delightful book. And it comes with an extra feature at the end, a list of Hampton, Virginia's 10-codes and fire signals! I recommend that anyone who is at least a little interested should buy this book.

It doesn't seem like there are lot of good books for boys, and it's good to see someone giving them something interesting to read. Max Anderson's adventure has excitement, humor, and good lessons. I highly recommend this book, especially for kids who haven't caught on to the value and fun of reading, and might need something to get them started.

The latest title in Max Elliot Anderson's "Tweener Press Adventure Series", Secret Of Abbot's Cave finds Randy and his friends have formed a detective club and pooled their resources to buy a police radio scanner. After learning of a bank robbery, they went on a camping trip and while exploring a cave, discover hidden loot from the robbery. Now they must figure out what the right thing to do is -- and deal with powerful temptations to the contrary. Secret Of Abbot's Cave is not only a rollicking good story, it has embedded within it some very good personal values for young readers to absorb.