Summer of the Woods (The Virginia Mysteries)

If Mr. Smith's first book is an indication of things to come, he will quickly become one of my son's favourite authors. Mine too, actually. Although The Boy, an 8-year old 3rd grader, loves to read on his own, he still indulges my Mommy Moments and allows me to occasionally read a book with him. To me, Summer of the Woods is the ideal book for this, because it has something for adults, as well as for children.As if by magic, Mr. Smith presents the perfect combination of nostalgia and modern day. This exemplifies the summers I remember. Freely roaming all around, turning over rocks in creeks, exploring woods and caves while our imaginations provided limitless adventures. Kids being kids. Good times, good stuff.On the other hand, there are some pretty cool tools that we, as parents, have today, that I bet my folks would have welcomed. Google. Oh, how I love Google, as a mom. Kids will always be curious, and the "new" advantage of quickly answering their questions with information and pictures at your fingertips allows their little minds to just keep going and going. Which is why they are so darn smart, as brilliantly demonstrated in this story.Two young boys move to Richmond, Virginia; into a large, old house, backed by woods and a winding creek. So, yes, I am a bit biased, but only because Mr. Smith captures the essence of my home so accurately and vividly. In no time at all, young Sam finds an old wheat penny, which leads them to the discovery of the legendary mystery. Supposedly, a valuable and rare coin collection was stolen from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts many, many years ago and was never recovered. As all good boys would do, the brothers make it their mission to solve the crime and recover the treasure. What follows is a classic adventure that you simply must experience.I admit that I went into this book with high expectations. Not only was I not disappointed, but I was quite surprised to find so many things that I love about this book. The dialogue and teasing among the family is spot-on. The mystery was fun, interesting, and authentic. The boys' emotions and actions are more than credible---these are typical 8 and 10 year old boys. The story flowed so smoothly that I actually read this in one sitting, although that wasn't my plan when I picked it up.Sidebar: For the 3rd consecutive year, all of the students in my son's elementary school (K-5) will be reading the same book, at the same time, with their families. The first year was E.B. White's The Trumpet of the Swan and last year was George Selden's The Cricket in Times Square. Both books were fine, but not necessarily captivating. Neither The Boy nor I had any desire to quickly seek out more books by these authors (because I had already read Charlotte's Web about 100 times). Summer of the Woods is this year's book. Yes, I cheated. I read ahead, and on my own. I am not even sorry. But, there is one issue that I foresee. With the other two books it was very easy to read one chapter each day and then put the book down. I don't see that being the case with this page-turner; but, as a reader, I honestly can't see that as a bad thing.I can't wait to see what the kids think of this story, and I'm already very excited about Mr. Smith's next book: Mystery on Church Hill.jv poore

I read Summer of the Woods aloud to my son while we were camping one summer when he was 8 years old. My son and our friends daughter would both cuddle up to me in our tent to listen to me read it. It became our tradition each summer while camping to read one or two of the next books in the series. I enjoyed them as they made a great read aloud. Summer of the Woods was very engaging and had plenty of adventure to keep the kids entertained. The following books in the series were wonderful as well. My son just turned 12 years old and has started reading another of the author’s series, the Final Kingdom trilogy. It is aimed at a bit older kids. He is on book 2 and, though he isn’t as avid of a reader as I’d like him to be, it is definitely keeping him turning pages and he has actually been reading longer than I “make” him read each night Lol. I feel that Steven K. Smiths books are a win and I’m happy I introduced them to my son 5 years ago!

What would you do? That is the question you will ask yourself as you follow 10 year-old Derek and 8 year-old Sam on their adventure. Brothers Derek and Sam move with their family to Virginia during summer break from school. The property they live on backs up to a large wooded area that they can’t help but explore.Derek, being the oldest, is the braver of the two brothers. Sam is more cautious and level headed which bodes well for him, but not so well for Derek in the end.During one outing, the brothers find a rare coin in a creek. After showing a neighbor the coin, the neighbor tells them a story about a valuable coin collection that was stolen from a local museum. And on one stormy night, Derek finds an old map in their house. Does this lead to the stolen treasure?The more important moral message of the story is doing the right thing. When and if the boys find the treasure, what is the right thing to do? The book answers this question well. Also, the boys are young and adventurous. These are great qualities but that adventure can get the boys into more trouble than expected. The boys learn about communication and how important that is, especially when things go wrong.This book is a quick and easy read. The book kept me interested because I wanted to find out how the story ended. I would recommend this book to 5th grade readers and below. It may be too simple for most middle school readers.

I have read all of Steven's "Virginia Mysteries" to my children. They were 4 and 6 when I began the eBooks, and now my oldest (8) is reading the paperbacks.I'm happy that Steven occasionally uses words not familiar to the age group his books are intended for. They broaden my children's vocabulary, and I enjoy answering their questions when "stumped" by the meaning of a word.

Good book

TOEIC730レベルで楽しく読めました。ところどころわからない単語は調べたり、読み飛ばしたりでしたがストーリーはわかりました。ワクワクさせる冒険でしたね。

This is a good adventure story for youngsters, especially boys. I'm not young and I'm not a boy, but I enjoyed it too. Recommended.

My 9 year was searching for books to read for his monthly book reports. We stumbled onto this series and have since bought the second book start for next’s months book report.We couldn’t wait to sit down every night to see where the story headed next.To know that the book was published independently and grew in popularity at a grassroots level makes it even more appealing.Honestly. Get it. You’ll love it.In my 9yo’s words:“The book was full of mystery and suspense. It was easy to read especially when you’re bored. It’s a really fun book.It reminded of Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings and Jumaji.