♥ Gold Award--Mom's Choice Book Awards; 1st Place--Story Monsters Approved ★ "It's a page turner you won't want to put down." --Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review Kids, your four heroes are back to solve another mystery! Come help them. In 1945, Isabela de Cordoba’s great-grandfather, the famous silent movie actor Lorenzo de Cordoba, mysteriously hid a legendary, multimillion-dollar emerald somewhere on the family’s sprawling Eucalyptus Street estate. Seventy years later, the gem remains concealed. Nicknamed the “Green Curse,” the emerald is blamed for the Southern California familia’s numerous, untimely deaths. On her twenty-first birthday, Isabela receives a secret letter with a cryptic poem. These documents from the long-deceased Lorenzo invite her to hunt for the gemstone. But first, she must decipher the poem’s six stanzas for clues. To assist, Isabela hires her thirteen-year-old neighbors, the four Botanic Hill Detectives—twins Lanny and Lexi Wyatt, and their best friends, Moki Kalani and Rani Kumar. Eerie footsteps inside the mansion, unexplained occurrences in the adjacent cemetery, and the mysterious tenant in the backyard casita challenge them. But they ingeniously make progress on the poem’s meaning with startling discoveries. Sliding wall panels, a secret room, and hidden passages reveal much. The detectives aren’t the only ones looking for the emerald. The perilous race for the de Cordoba treasure is on! " GREEN CURSE is a spooky mystery that starts during a lightning storm in an empty mansion. The tension ratchets up, alluding to ghosts, vampires, tombstones, graves, and a scary old witch-like woman. There's a mystery within the mystery, multicultural characters, and interesting lore about gemstones of antiquity. My 12-year-old son and I finished this book in one day!" --BEN GARTNER , author of The Eye of Ra series "The Botanic Hill Detectives--Lexi, Moki, Lanny, and Rani--are on an intriguing quest to find a valuable emerald. This page-turner is sure to be a hit with its vivid descriptions, well-paced story line, and intriguing clues. Kids aged 9-12 will become quickly absorbed and anxiously await the next mystery in this series!" -- STACY ALFANO , 5th grade ELA teacher, Shoemaker Elementary School, Macungie, PA Eucalyptus Street: Green Curse by Sherrill Joseph is a spooky story packed with tension and scary characters along the way . . . . It's a page-turner with so much going on that you won't want to put it down, and it contains everything you need for an incredible mystery that sends plenty of shivers down the spine. The descriptive writing makes you a part of the story and the detective squad . . . . The characters are well developed and likable . . . . Eucalyptus Street: Green Curse is fantastic for older kids/younger teens; a thoroughly enjoyable story. --READERS' FAVORITE BOOK REVIEWS, Five-Star Review by Anne-Marie Reynolds Why I Created "Super Sleuths"  If my four teen detectives seem unusually mature, polite, and helpful,  they are--by design!  My goal was--and still is--to create positive role models, someone for kids ages nine to twelve to look up to in this scary world and, perhaps, to emulate. Better yet, I want my four "super sleuths" to become kids' new heroes. The detectives' real-life prototypes were my thirteen-year-old twin cousins and my  eleven -year-old fifth grade students. That's right.  Eleven.  They were some of the smartest, most poised, and respectful kids I ever had the pleasure to teach. They energized me and made me feel daily that our planet will be in good hands with them at the helm.  Then it hit me! Wouldn't it be wonderful if more kids could develop the same abilities to let their best selves shine forth? If they could boost their confidence in order to showcase their intelligence and skills, not be ashamed of them? If their concerns for others might translate into being more helpful at home and in their communities? So, I launched my uber-efficient Botanic Hill detectives as guides for kids to courageously "up their game." Nancy Drew was my childhood courage coach. Why not see if this concept would work for today's kids? I hope to get their feedback about this when I visit schools.  How "Las Palmitas" and "Botanic Hill" Originated  My book's setting is the Pacific coastal resort town of Las Palmitas ("the little palm trees"). It's a quainter version of palm-filled San Diego, California, USA, where I reside. I came up with the concept of "Botanic Hill" one day while walking my dog, Jimmy Lambchop. He and I live in an old neighborhood with charming botanical street names like Jacaranda Street, Nutmeg Street, and Quince Street. There is even a neighborhood nearby called Bankers Hill; hence, "Hill." As a child, I always wanted to live on Nutmeg Street because I thought something magical would happen to me there. Well, I never did end up living on Nutmeg Street, but on that walk that day, it and the other streets seemed to be screaming at