When Colin finds a shoebox full of letters hidden in a stranger’s attic, he knows he’s supposed to throw them away. That’s his summer job, getting rid of junk. But Colin wants to rescue the letters--and find out what really happened to best friends Rosemary and Toby way back in the 1970s.
Meanwhile, across town, Nevaeh also finds a mysterious letter. But this one reads like a confession to a crime. And Nevaeh knows her father, the “Junk King,” expects her to join the rest of the family in blaming a single suspect: his business rival, Colin’s mom.
But that’s not what Nevaeh wants, either.
Even as one set of letters bring Colin and Nevaeh together, the one Nevaeh found threatens to tear them apart. Is their new friendship as doomed as Rosemary and Toby’s?
Each book in the Mysteries of Trash and Treasure series will examine a different time period in history and make readers think about how we value the stuff we hold on to—and what it is that makes it valuable.
Margaret Peterson Haddix is the New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty books for kids and teens. She grew up on a farm in Ohio and worked as a newspaper reporter and copy editor in Indiana before her first book, Running Out of Time, was published. Since then, the books she has written include the Greystone Secrets series, the Shadow Children series, the Missing series, the Mysteries of Trash and Treasure series, and many stand-alones. Her books have been honored with an Edgar Allan Poe award and numerous state readers choice awards. Margaret and her husband, Doug, now live in Columbus, Ohio, where they raised their two kids. You can learn more about her at haddixbooks.com.