THE TREASURE IN THE LITTLE TRUNK

The Treasure in the Little Trunk by Helen Fuller Orton It came to me today that if I had been substitute teaching rather than selling real estate, I might have passed the test to qualify to be on Jeopardy. Today I subbed 6th grade Social Studies, American History, and I learned all kinds of interesting things. I've been a reader from the moment I learned how to do it in first grade. God forbid anyone would teach you to read any earlier than first grade in those dark days of olde. I remember that in the library at River Oaks, there was an author whose name started with "O", and the books were on a bottom shelf. I remember that I loved the mysteries by this author. Nowadays they would call these chapter books, but in those days I was just a reader, and they were just books. For the last 10 years or so, whenever I'm in the children's section of a library, I always look at the authors in the fiction section whose names begin with "O". And for the last 10 years, there have never been any mysteries by a female author whose name started with "O".
Until last spring. I was subbing in the library at the elementary school with my friend Barbara who is the assistant librarian, and told her of my search. We looked on the shelf, and there it was! One book by Helen Fuller Orton entitled The Treasure in the Little Trunk. I recognized the name right away, and vowed to read the book as soon as I had time. Last week I was subbing with Barbara again, and checked out my book. I finished reading it this afternoon during my break period. I loved this story, which I'd probably read once before when I was 7 or 8. I'm surprised at how sophisticated the writing is, and at how much I enjoyed the embellishments (illustrations) by Robert Ball. It takes place in 1823-25, it's written in the 3rd person, and the main character is Patty Armstrong, a nine year old girl "going on 10". She and her family move from an established Vermont village and a lovely home to settle in the western part of the state of New York near the Erie Canal, which is then under construction. They travel by covered wagon, and among Patty's possessions is a little trunk holding her best treasure. When they arrive at their land, a friendly neighbor helps them to construct a log house, and their dad clears trees from the land so that he can farm in the rich soil. This book is so good! It was written in 1932, and the book I was reading was copyrighted in 1959. And the list of other books by the author are all mysteries! Mystery Solved!