Unique Idea
In P.W. Cross’s THE LOST LAKE DIG, readers meet two boys from 1750. Joey is despondent because his best friend Ben is moving away. Imagine his surprise when he and Ben wind up in an alternate world, the Land of Lights, where they are asked to help retrieve a powerful gusher from a crazed miner.
You see, in this alternate world, bubbles known as squirts and gushers containing ideas are mined. Though most humans can’t see them, the most brilliant ideas of mankind come from these idea bubbles. However, the idea miners who find the biggest ideas, known as gushers, tend to go crazy once they encounter one. That’s where Ben and Joey are needed.
The dwarfs who mine the ideas are in awe of humans from the other world and treat them like royalty. Ben and Joey are the last hope for retrieving the gusher and delivering it to where it belongs. With evil trolls hot on their trail, Joey and Ben face the quest of a lifetime!
THE LOST LAKE DIG is the first book in The Idea Miners series. The concept is unique and imaginative. I like that. Many of today’s adventure books seem to stick to wizards, vampires and devious mastermind criminals. I love the freshness of this storyline and feel most kids will appreciate it too.
The book itself is pretty good. There were a few sections where I felt the pacing changed, and I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit. However, given the unique plot, this was bound to happen because of the descriptive mining process and breakdown what gushers and squirts are.
Now that the premise is built, I am very curious to see what adventure Joey and Ben take in the future!