Mystery of the Homeless Treasure by John Bibee

Mystery of the Homeless Treasure was written by John Bibee and published in 1994. This book is part of the series, The Home School Detectives, and was printed by InterVarsity Press. It is 117 pages long and the age group for this Christian fiction mystery is girls and boys 8-12.

In Springdale, Billy has found a gold cup that was linked to a robbery 30 years ago. Billy, Josh and the other homeschoolers try to solve the mystery and they learn in the end that it is Mr. Craven who was the robber. After the kids find the cup they go see Mr. Finley, the antique dealer, and they find out the cup was a part of a set of goods that were stolen from an auction. The funds were going to be used to be a homeless shelter. A masked man captures Mr. Finley and the cup is stolen. The kids rescue him from an abandoned house. The sheriff gets involved and with the help of the homeless stranger they discover who the third thief was in the robbery thirty years ago. The children, not knowing this, have the help of Molly, a dog, and find the cave with the same dishes as the gold cup. And they figure out with the help of some marked verses in the Bible where the first thief hid the safe. The third thief was most grateful for their help, but fortunately the sheriff came and saved them. The homeless man was not really homeless; he was there to clear his father’s name in the original robbery. Billy, Josh, and the other kids learned what it feels like to help those who are homeless, by finding the auction items that may help to build a shelter.

John Bibee is also the author of Spirit Flyers. He wrote the book with a clear plot line and easily recognized characters. I enjoyed how we did not learn who the homeless man was until the end.

The main issue in this book is that the strong need to help the weak. This book shows that we need to use what we have for those who are less fortunate than we are. The kids were learning from Pastor Brown and the Luke 14 party that it could be fun to be a servant of God.

I liked how the author showed that homeschooling is fun. I also thought it was important how helping the homeless was stressed in the book.

This paperback book has a font size that reads pretty well. I would recommend this story to others, because it is a good mystery and we remember the fun of helping others.