The Story of the Treasure Seekers
E. Nesbit
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Oct. 7, 2012)
Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius Bastable try to help their widowed father regain the family fortunes after their father’s business fails. Told from one of the Bastable children’s perspective, the narrator is not revealed until the end of the story, although the narrator changes into first person at times. The story begins with background information of the Bastable family and launches into their father’s financial problems. After the children’s mother dies, their father becomes sick and his business partner travels to Spain, which starts his difficulties with money. The Bastable children debate methods to earn money and decide to dig for treasure in their garden. Their neighbor, Albert, joins in the digging the hole and soon the hole is deep enough for them to stand in. They each take a turn digging inside the hole, but when Albert takes a turn, the dirt collapses on him. His uncle comes over to help rescue him and the uncle directs their attention to two half-crowns. After they search for treasure, they choose other methods to find or make money, such as becoming detectives in an attempt to earn prize money for solving a mystery. In their quest for treasure, they also use poetry, meet a princess, become bandits, and create and edit their own newspaper while debating and arguing along the way.