A Bone to Pick: A Peggy Henderson Adventure by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Peggy loves archaeology.  She enjoys the challenge and the discoveries.  So she's sure her adult friend will take her on the new dig.  Even when she finds out it's to be a class on how to do it, she's ready to volunteer her help.  Unfortunately, they don't need her help...

Dundurn and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published December 15th.  This is a series so you can read the earlier books while you wait.

I especially liked this story.  The author weaves a Viking story with a modern day discovery.  The paintings on the wall tell the story of a young Viking girl who had a warrior's heart.  This cave is a tribute to her.  When a local girl shows Peggy the cave, she asks her to keep it a secret.  Peggy is torn in half.  She, too, wants to learn the story and claim the find.  But they don't have the resources and it really belongs to the public.  When she can't find her friend and tells the other professor, he acts like it's his find!

The matter gets resolved and Peggy even learns to cook.  This is another good story in this series.  I've enjoyed reading them.  Peggy is impulsive and always ends up in trouble, but she means well.  That's about the best a child can do.

Bone Deep: A Peggy Henderson Adventure by Gina McMurchy-Barber

She's young, but she wants to be an archaeologist.  She's already been on a dig.  Now she may have a chance to do underwater archeology!

Dundurn and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It is scheduled to be published in December, so grab the first two in the series and read about her adventures on land while you're waiting.

This is a tale written for middle graders and it's really two stories; one within another.  As Peggy learns to scuba dive (and almost drowns) then goes along on the boat, she's reading the diary of the captain whose ship went down.  There's a historical account of the ship and its journey and troubles.  This made the story much more interesting.  Travelling to trade by ship in the 1700's was dangerous.  Not all the natives were friendly, look what happened to Captain Cook.

Peggy gets herself in trouble again by talking on the radio with someone checking on their welfare.  That someone happens to be a reporter.  After she plugged the head (bathroom) and didn't admit it, this is the final straw for the captain of her ship.  He leaves her on board while the others dive to pick up some artifacts to prove their find.  Of course, they leave her with the professor that didn't even want to bring her along.  What could make things worse?  How about a boatload of reporters and a major blow?

Peggy manages to hold her own and earns some of the captain's respect back.  She also finds that her old Aunt has been giving her some good advice and she needs to admit her mistakes and faults.  I think Peggy's next adventure will be even more exciting now that she's growing up a bit.