An incredible book my mom discovered for my family is the Parker Inheritance. I discovered this book over Spring Break 2021 on a road trip. Written by Varian Johnson, this story tracks Brandon, an eleven-year old boy, and Candice, a twelve-year old girl solving a puzzle in hopes of finding a forty-million dollar treasure intended to support the city of Lambert, South Carolina.
While temporarily moving to her grandma’s house, Candice finds this riddle in a letter addressed to her grandma who took on this challenge years before she did and was forced to stop looking for the prize. The letter talks about racial inequity, and describes an injustice that took place in Lambert decades before Candice was born. Will Candice and Brandon be able to find the prize before Candice has to go back home?
This story covers many different concepts. It talks about racial inequality and the different challenges of being African American in the Jim Crow era. As the story rolls out, the plot gets more and more interesting as Candice and Brandon uncover new facts leading them closer and closer to the prize. Including complex puzzles and fun characters, this story has everything you would want in a book. While immersing readers in an adventure that they cannot put down, the book makes the readers feel like they are in the story.
The book has many mysteries including why the letter was inside Candice’s Grandma’s attic in a box marked “FOR CANDICE,” what happened to the other people the letter was sent to, and why the other people who got the letter did not take on the challenge of trying to find the forty-million dollar prize. All of these questions need to be answered if Candice and Brandon intend to find the prize. This book combines all the characteristics needed to have an incredible story.