Gold!

"I have a secret." A great start to any story and it continues strongly from there. There is enough happening in this story to keep the reader engaged all the way to the end, but not so dramatic to really worry you.

I was worried about the diary style of writing, not something that I usually enjoy but this was formatted nicely and was accurate to the timeline (it was helpful to go back to the dates to reference past events).

This story is a fun realistic depiction of what the goldfields would have been like back in the 1800's, the trials and tribulations of the people working the goldfields and who would have actually made the money there.

Even though this is set in the past it does bring up some current topics, opening them up for discussion like feeling unsafe around certain people but maybe not knowing why and dressing up as a boy to keep safe.

A nice touch at the end having a factual outline of the events of the time and some photos depicting this.

Overall a strong book that would work as a read-aloud, novel study or independent reading, and would add to a local history topic.