DOUBLE EAGLE

While visiting his father on a barrier island near Mobile, Ala., 13-year-old Mike Gilbert finds a friend, a gold coin, lost treasure and more excitement than he’d bargained for. This suspenseful adventure opens with an introductory section describing the last run of the Skink, a paddle-wheel steamer escaping New Orleans in 1862. More than 100 years later, in June 1973, a salvage boat searches for the wreck just offshore, while Mike and Kyle explore a crumbling Civil War fort where they find a gold coin that might have been part of the load the Skink carried. Not surprisingly, the boys attract the attention of other treasure seekers, some of them armed. Although the setup requires some historical background and coin-collecting details, Mike’s first-person narration moves along quickly, the action spiraling to a climactic confrontation just before a devastating hurricane. A final chapter—a news story dated November 2009—allows readers to imagine a highly satisfactory ending. Reluctant readers carried along by the plot will encounter some interesting history along the way. (Thriller. 10-14)