Lost Treasure of the Inca - Hardcover

Lourie, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563977435 ISBN 13: 9781563977435

Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, 1999

Synopsis

Boyds Mills Press publishes a wide range of high-quality fiction and nonfiction picture books, chapter books, novels, and nonfiction

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Lourie is the author of many books for young people, including Arctic Thaw: The People of the Whale in a Changing Climate and Hidden World of the Aztec. He lives in Weybridge, Vermont.

Review:

Think of 750 tons of gold and silver--literally a king's ransom intended as barter for the life of a god-king. Think of an ancient treasure guide, and ponder whether it was intended as a true map or as cunning misdirection. Think of swirling fog, quicksand bogs, treacherous crevasses, and dense overgrowth that frustrate treasure hunters. This isn't R.L. Stevenson, but the real-life adventure of author Lourie, who followed the tantalizing path suggested by centuries of Inca and Spanish lore, a guide written by Spanish solder Valverde who claimed to know the location of the hidden cache, and an old Swiss treasure hunter who boasted that he simply needed "the Ecuadorian Army to help him dig the gold out from under tons of mud." Lourie recounts how he employed the services of three seasoned guides to lead him high into the Andes; plagued by mosquitoes, biting ants, and doubts concerning the reliability of Valverde's directions, he finally succumbed to altitude sickness and had to descend without discovering a glimmer of the gold. But he did return with a ripping good yarn to tell (in which he portrays himself as part heroic adventurer, part possible dupe, and part outlander who's clearly not fit for the rigors of mountaineering) and some breathtaking photographs of the mist-shrouded volcanic peaks. This should be a hot pick for armchair travelers, and it could make a terrific tie-in for a unit on Amerindian culture. -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 1999

About this edition

• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1563977435
• ISBN 13: 9781563977435
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32