THE TREASURE BIRD

Communication—singing and speaking—is important in Griffin's novels. In Otto From Otherwhere (1990), the unearthly beauty of an extraterrestrial's singing was a central element. Here, in a summer-vacation mystery (again set in San Antonio), the prattling of a parrot provides cryptic clues to be deciphered by young Jessy (who stutters so badly that she communicates largely by gestures and glances), leading to a buried treasure on her stepmother's family farm. With well-drawn characters and a strong sense of place, this short book is unusually rich in subplots and subsidiary themes: the importance of keeping promises; the romance of family history; development encroaching on a rural homestead; Jessy's grief at her neglect by a long-absent mother who drifts from one commune to another; the dynamics of a ``blended'' family and their economic woes. Griffin plays fair with her readers—all the clues needed to solve the mystery are right there in the story—but the solution is a surprise nevertheless. (Fiction. 9-12)