The Treasure of the Coral Reef

This is one of a small handful of books from my childhood that I read every couple years. This book, along with the books by Geoffrey Trease, and to a lesser extent, Stephen Meader, are what changed my attitude about history (at that time it was the subject in school I disliked most).
In chapter 6, the day after Jerry and Mike's fight, Jerry describes how his sister Jill told their parents the truth in such a way that they assumed she was lying to exonerate her brothers, when in reality she had carefully engineered events to come out as she wanted, and be excused - I could just picture my sister. That kind of details that a kid could relate to made it a good read. And it made me want to learn more about the historical events (no internet show more available in those days). show less

From vintage scholastic cover: Scuba diving! This was flying the way Mike had dreamed about it all his life. This was the unreal sensation of being like a bird, of being able to hang suspended in space, of being able to swoop down and then soar high above again, just by kind of wishing yourself along....But little does Mike guess that the dull-gray box he finds on the bottom of the ocean holds the solution to his knotty problem--a solution that finally unites three warring generations of his family. [uses the word "negro."]