March of Books - Secret of the Golden Cowrie

When I was younger our closest neighbors lived a half mile down the road. Their dad worked at the same place as my dad and we went to the same church, so we knew each other pretty well. It was so much fun to be able to ride my bike to their house to play... and to get books. 


They had loads and loads of books. It was the bookworm's delight, let me tell you! One of my favorite books, which I borrowed over and over again, was Secret of the Golden Cowrie by Gloria Repp.

"Connie Lawrence loves secrets, and when Aunt Laura shares one with her, it leads them both to a puzzle connected with a beautiful golden cowrie shell. Connie plunges eagerly into the mystery. 


Figuring it out will be fun, and besides, it will give her a chance to prove herself to her big brother, Dan.

But who is the prowler that knows so much about Aunt Laura's house? What secrets does the strange little set of diaries hold? And what should she do about the letter that she found in the desk?


When time begins to run out for Aunt Laura, however, it is to Dan that Connie must turn. As they work together on the deepening mystery, she comes to a better understanding of God and learns something about her own self as well."

Okay. First of all, I loved Connie. And envied her. How come I never got to solve a mystery? I also loved some of the lessons that Connie learned along the way. Trusting God is something that I need to work on now as much as I did when I first picked this book up. 

Ricky was a pretty cool character, too. I loved his pet raccoon. I felt for him as he was lonely but was still trying to go it alone. I think I used to pretend that Ricky was real and that he was the little brother I wished I had. (This was obviously before Seth!) 

Dan was cool. I always wanted an older brother even more than I wanted a younger brother. Even though I know he was wrong to not be a better big brother from the start, I justified it by saying that Connie must have been a brat and deserved it. I was sure that no big brother could ever make mistakes. Older brothers were meant to be trusted guides and leaders, so they'd be perfect, right? =)

Stella was a great character, too. I think that Gloria Repp totally gets the desire that younger girls have for older girls to notice them and to care about them. I wished I could be more like Stella with her independence and all, but some of that just comes with age. ;)

Well... we ended up moving away, so there was no more going over on my bike to pick out books at the neighbors'. 

So...

 I started duplicating their library for myself. Now I own over fifty of the books that I used to borrow all the time. =) Those, of course, include Secret of the Golden Cowrie. 

I brought Secret to AWANA a couple of weeks ago so that my girls could read it if they wanted to. I was happy that one of them has already read (and loved!) it. =D I always like having books in common with people. 

I still enjoy reading this and many other books from my childhood. I can't wait to share it with my own kids some day!


YLCF's March of Books