78 pages • 2 hours read
Jennifer Chambliss BertmanBook Scavenger
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Books
Books are the single most prominent motif in the novel, beginning with the title: Book Scavenger. The novel focuses on books as physical objects as much as sources of learning.
The entire scavenger game rests on the principle of finding books as physical objects hidden in unusual locations. Many books are disguised as something else or hidden within other objects. For example, Emily hides one book inside a fountain and another disguised as a loaf of bread. The physicality of books becomes even more important in the Poe game. Griswold’s handmade edition of “The Gold-Bug” contains something more than verbal clues. Secret messages are written in invisible ink that only can be seen when heated. The golden beetle that ornaments the book’s cover also points to a location on a map, just as the gold-bug in Poe’s story needs to be dropped from a specific location to reveal hidden treasure.
Remora’s obsession with books is largely dependent on his need to possess them physically. He is a collector, so books are rare objects that are meant to be displayed rather than read. At one point, he mentions his anger when Griswold used a first edition of a Hammett book as a coaster. Clearly, Griswold would be more interested in the words the book contains than in preserving it as a physical object. Remora is equally incensed that the undiscovered Poe manuscript was buried in the ground rather than sealed in an acid-free container to preserve it. Physical books also feature as the prize awarded to the kids. They receive advance reader copies of Poe’s unknown novel and will receive royalties for future copies sold.
Puzzles and Clues
As one might expect in a book devoted to a scavenger hunt, riddles and clues are prominently featured. The reader is first introduced to Emily as she solves a riddle to collect a book after moving to San Francisco. In the process, she outlines the rules of the game and the kinds of clues a scavenger is expected to leave to lead others to a hidden book. Aside from the game itself, the motif of riddles is used in a variety of other ways.
Emily first encounters James sitting in a stairwell with a copy of Puzzle Power magazine. This shared fascination with puzzles immediately establishes James as a kindred spirit. James recognizes this similarity himself when he stumbles across one of Emily’s clue notebooks. Shortly afterward, he lowers a puzzle down to her window in an old bucket. When she solves it almost immediately, James is ready to establish a friendship with her. The two quickly move on to creating their own coded ways of communicating with each other, from tapping on the floor or ceiling to signal a meeting to written messages passed back and forth in class.
One of these messages, intercepted by Quisling, leads to the cipher challenge that almost loses James his favorite lock of hair. As the challenge intensifies between James and Maddie, the reader learns about various code schemes and historical ways of passing encrypted messages. Emily’s unwillingness to help James with his ciphers is the catalyst for their big fight and subsequent reunion.
When the kids are held captive in Remora’s house, a coded message from Emily to James allows them to escape. Of course, “The Gold-Bug” is the biggest cipher of all since it contains a variety of secret messages both in script and in objects that lead the kids to their reward.
Authors
The novel uses its plot device of book retrieval to expand the reader’s knowledge of authors as well, and frequent mention is made of local authors in San Francisco. One of the clues on the treasure hunt trail leads to a hidden copy of The Maltese Falcon. The book’s author, Dashiell Hammett, was a resident of the city. Similarly, a reference is made to Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Aside from his most famous work, Treasure Island, and its obvious association with the treasure hunt, Stevenson spent some time living in the San Francisco area and in Monterey, and his works include many references to the landscape of California’s northern coast.
Another author, Jack Kerouac, features in the Crane family lore and in Griswold’s publishing company. His primary connection to San Francisco is his posthumously published book of poetry, San Francisco Blues. Kerouac is Emily’s father’s favorite author. He wrote a novel about traveling through America that inspired the Crane family’s annual moves. Griswold’s assistant is also named Jack Kerouac but is no relation to the famous author.
Obviously, the greatest attention is paid to Edgar Allan Poe, who has no particular association with San Francisco. The reader learns many of the details of his short stories and poems such as “The Raven,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Gold-Bug.” His story about the golden scarab provides the basis for the clues in Griswold’s game.
The fictitious Garrison Griswold is supposed to be a descendant of the real Rufus Griswold, Poe’s greatest literary rival. By creating an ancestral relationship between Garrison and Rufus, the author of Book Scavenger is attempting to set the historical record straight. Many readers might not be aware that Rufus conducted a smear campaign to tarnish Poe’s reputation after his death. Just as Garrison attempts to make amends for his ancestor’s bad behavior, Bertman wants her readers to know that much negative information about Poe may not be true.
