The Treasure Chest

Hood, Ann. Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield (The Treasure Chest #1)
August 6, 2024 by Penguin Workshop

Copy provided by the publisher
 

Maisie and Felix Robbins' lives are upturned in an instant when their parents announce they are divorcing. Before they know it, they are whisked from New York City to Newport, Rhode Island while their father packs himself off to work at a museum in Qatar! Because an ancestor built Elm Medona, one of the Gilded Age "cottages", and the children's great aunt Maisie can no longer stay in the apartment she is renting for $1 a year from the historical society, the children move in with their mother. They joke that they are being held captive in the attic, but it's quite a nice place to live, and they do get taken on a tour of their opulent new surroundings. While Maisie is not particularly happy about the move, she is intrigued, and when a pricelss Ming vase shatters, she surreptitiously picks up a shard. Things get strange when the vase appears later, fully mended! Felix doesn't think much of it until the two get a chance to see the Treasure Chest, a room full of all sorts of wonderful gifts that had been given to the owners of the home. When the two pick up a piece of paper, reality flickers, and they wonder what secrets the room might hold. Of course, their mother takes the day off, and wants them to visit their great aunt, but they are impatient to get back. When they sneak into the room at night, they manage to time travel! They end up in the country, and assume that the girl they meet in her family's barn, Clara Barton, must be Amish, and think they have traveled to Pennsylvania. When Clara tells them that they are in Massachusetts, and that it's 1836, they are amazed. They spend an interesting day hearing about Clara's brother David, who was sick and had to be nursed for three years, overhear stories that Clara's father tells, and have a hearty country breakfast. It's tricky to get back, and they realize that they have a letter that needs to be delivered to Clara. Once that is done, they head back to modern day Newport to start their new school, and to spend more time listening to their great aunt! 

Strengths: If you have not been to Newport to see the mansions there, you should go if you get the chance. They are absolutely fascinating. There's so much history, and the thought of being able to live in an apartment in one of them... wow. I don't know why Maisie complains at all! The reasons for the family's move were solid, and I was glad that both Maisie and Felix saw some value in visiting their aunt and hearing her stories by the end of the book. The historical details about 1836 are good, and meeting a young Clara Barton and hearing about her formative years was interesting. I could use a good historical novel about Barton, now that I think about it. The new covers (this series first was published in 2011) are much better than the old ones. 
Weaknesses: Since Clara hasn't done her famous battlefield nursing work yet, this felt more like a Childhood of Famous Americans book than a time travel adventure where children have to rectify some anomaly in the past. Perhaps there will be more reason for the children to travel in the next book. I have to say that I liked Hood's She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah a little better, but that was an especially good book. 
What I really think: Asselin and Malone's Art of the Swap also takes place in a Newport mansion and involves time travel, but this has more historic significance. It will be popular with readers of Gutman's Flashback Four, Messner's Ranger in Time, or O'Brien's White House Clubhouse. 

 

Hood, Ann. Alexander Hamilton: Little Lion (The Treasure Chest #2)

August 6, 2024 by Penguin Workshop
Copy provided by the publisher

Even though Maisie and Felix get to live in a fabulous Newport, Rhode Island mansion, what the really want is to return home to New York, specifically to a time when their parents were still together and their father wasn't living in Qatar. Since their first foray into the Treasure Chest took them to see a very young Clara Barton, the two somehow think that they can use the time travel to return to their previous life. After some failed attempts, the visit their great Aunt Maisie, who gives them some clues, as well as a Faberge egg that was made for her. Her brother Thorne had one as well, but something is missing from her egg, and she thinks perhaps Thorne stole it... before he moved to London in 1941. This gives Maisie the idea that she needs to have the shard from the Ming vase with her when she tries to time travel. The siblings look for items that have a New York provenance, but when a coin is knocked off the table and the two accidentally touch it, they find themselves whisked away to St. Croix. After trying to buy food with a coin from 1794, they find that they are in 1772, and meet a seventeen-year-old Alexander Hamilton. They figure he is the person they need to help, and follow him around. While Maisie has a crush on the future statesman, he views the two as "water rats" since they keep following him around. We do find out a lot about what Hamilton did at a young age, including his extensive writing, and find out that he has a job with a slave trader, Cruger, that angers Maisie but which he claims to really need even though he doesn't agree with it. When local businessmen, including Cruger, offer to pay for Hamilton to study in New York along with his friend Ned, he has to get on the last ship sailing there for a while. Maisie and Felix, feeling their job isn't done, beg to go along. The journey is a long one, and when the group lands in Boston, the place is crawling with Red Coats. Eventually, Maisie talks to Hamilton about what is going on in her life, and she sees from his example that she needs to move past the divorce and relocation. Once she has this epiphany, she and Felix are able to return to the present day, although they will remain in Rhode Island. 

Strengths: While I enjoyed the first book in this series, it felt a bit lacking in information about Clara Barton's early years. This did a nice job at painting a portrait of Hamilton's time before he came to the colonies. There are lots of good details, and some of the historical events are given a new look with modern eyes, like Cruger's involvement in the slave trade. Maisie and Felix's presence is better explained as being "hurricane children", so their odd clothes and foreign ways are understandable. There are ten books in all in The Treasure Chest series, including a title where they visit Pearl Buck, if you are looking to go to other places and times, and find out how the children get on in Newport! 
Weaknesses: I'm still a little confused about why the siblings are time traveling. They spent a lot of time on the process, but they aren't fixing any history. It seems like they are traveling to fix things in their own lives, which would be innovative. Also, since this originally came out in 2012, the time frames don't quite work; if Thorne is alive, he's over 100 years old. 
What I really think: I'm a huge fan of time travel series, and Gutman's Baseball Card Adventures is the best because it also involves sports. Gibbs' also has The Last Musketeer Trilogy. I was glad that this went to St. Croix in 1772, since there aren't as many books about Alexander Hamilton as you would have thought; Hamilton! has been out for a decade, and is still fairly popular. Keep this in mind if you want more information about Hamilton's early like and have enjoyed Fritz's Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider (2011) or Elliott's Hamilton and Peggy.