# Anyone heard about a kids book series where the author has hidden jeweled insects? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135 "2005-07-25T23:40:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/1 "2005-07-25T23:40:35Z")
All around the country(or maybe the world), this one author has hidden different insects that are made out of jewels. The series of books he is writing are supposed to give hints as to where they are in the country, but no one has found any yet. I read about this twice on an airplane magazine, but I’ve forgotten the name of the author and the book titles. Does anyone know any websites about this and what the information is? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/2 "2005-07-25T23:46:19Z")
[http://www.atreasurestrove.com/](http://www.atreasurestrove.com/) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/3 "2005-07-26T02:21:12Z")
Far from an original idea. Stolen wholesale from [Kit Williams](http://www.bunnyears.net/kitwilliams/masq.html). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/4 "2005-07-26T02:30:16Z")
There was a whole genre of these kind of books in the 1980s. The first one to be popular was [Masquerade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_(book)) by Kit Williams. Two years after publication the golden hare was found. Kit Williams followed that up with [Untitled, or “The Bee Book”](http://www.bunnyears.net/kitwilliams/bee.html). The treasure wasn’t actually to be dug up, but rather the true title of the book had to be figured out and the answer sent to Williams in non-verbal form to claim the jeweled bee. There was a later book titled [Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure:_In_Search_of_the_Golden_Horse), the golden horse in question not being found before the deadline. The publishers dug it back up and auctioned it off for charity. Another one, more recent I believe, is [The Whistle Pig](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0972825606/002-4825016-1224068?v=glance). There are 10 short stories that have clues leading to an unmistakable key hidden somewhere on public property in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Novalyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@Novalyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novalyne)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/5 "2005-07-26T13:18:30Z")
I think I read an article very recently that one of the jewels has been found. Can’t help you with the title or author though! ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/6 "2005-07-26T14:03:15Z")
A good source of information is [http://www.tweleve.org/](http://www.tweleve.org/) The author hid twelve (there may be 13) tokens around the country redeemable for a jewel or cash. Once the first one was found and it turned out the code was a deceptively simple cipher most of the others were found in a short span of a month or so. Embedded in the drawings are instructions on how to use the cipher. All but one of the twelve tokens have been found. If you join the forums at the above site (free) you will find the exact instructions on how they were found and plenty of ideas on how to find the last one (or two). The author is currently working on another book that is rumored to be world wide. Look for that in a year or two. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/7 "2005-07-26T14:44:19Z")
David Blaine employed this gimmick as well for his book _Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic_. The details of the treasure hunt and winner are documented [here.](http://thefoolsparadise.com/db/) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/8 "2005-07-26T15:13:33Z")
Was Kit Williams the first to use this gimmik in a published book. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/9 "2005-07-26T15:17:17Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Was Kit Williams the first to use this gimmik in a published book. I wasn’t able to find that out when I was researching my post last night. _Masquerade_ is the first one I remember, but that may be as much a function of its popularity as the timing (I was in my early teens when it was published, so anything much earlier than that I would be unfamiliar with). I do remember that such a big deal was made of _Masquerade_ that it seemed as if it was some sort of ground-breaking book. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/10 "2005-07-26T16:47:03Z")
Not exactly a book, but in 1980 the now long-defunct gaming company Metagaming published _The Quest for the Silver Dragon_, which was a solitare adventure for their Melee/Wizard pseudo-RPG. The game held clues to where a real silver dragon figurine had been buried. That is about the same time _Masquerade_ came out but I don’t know if they were inspired by the book or not. They later published _The Quest for the Unicorn Gold_ which supposedly did something similar, but it appears as if they never really hid the statue they claimed to. ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-about-a-kids-book-series-where-the-author-has-hidden-jeweled-insects/314135/11 "2005-07-26T17:04:58Z")
Ok. I guess all are found now except for possibly a 13th token.