• Age: 8 to 11
• Grade: 3 to 6
• Reading age: 9 to 12

The Gold Diggersí Club brings back ten-year-old Carly and her friends first introduced in Waiting to Dive. As in her earlier adventure, Carlyís life seems somewhat more complicated than perhaps it should. First off, her mother is about to have a baby. Carly is not entirely sure she approves. After all, shouldnít she be enough? Then her dreams of Olympic diving glory suffer a setback when she discovers she has developed a fear of heights. This may ruin all her plans. School isnít going particularly well for Carly either. Fainting after stabbing herself with her protractor hasnít helped matters. Things get a bit more interesting when she and her friends decide to do their history project on Brother XII, a notorious cult leader who once lived on the island where Carly and her family spend their summer vacations. The fact that Brother XII was rumored to have buried a large amount of gold there increases the girlsí interest. When her stepfather agrees to take the kids to the island to search for evidence of Brother XII, The Gold Diggersí Club prepares for an exciting weekend. But when the weather turns nasty, they find themselves in for more adventure than they bargained for. Will they find Brother XIIís treasure? Will they get home in time to be with Carlyís mum when she has her baby? Will they ever get home?

Karen Rivers is the author of numerous novels, mostly for young adults. Her books have been nominated for a number of awards, including the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize and the Silver Birch Award. Karen has a BA in International Relations, which makes her an asset on any trivia team that emphasizes global politics in the late 1980s or early 1990s. As a lifelong hypochondriac, she once thought she'd be a doctor but realizes now that writing is a much more sensible career choice as it allows enough time to research symptoms on Google without having to actually go to medical school. Karen lives, reads and writes in a yellow house near the beach in Victoria, British Columbia, and can almost always be found online at www.karenrivers.com.

Karen Rivers' profile page

• Short-listed, CLA Book of the Year for Children nominee
• Short-listed, BC Book Prize - Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize

"...a first rate novel for young adults."

CM Magazine