Mystery Lake was a very old, very boring looking town as far as Alice was concerned. But if that were true – if it were not in fact hiding a very exciting and dangerous secret – we wouldn’t have written a book about the adventures she and her twin brother, Jax, had when they moved there. (Not just inspired by a real kid’s ideas; actually developed, written, and illustrated by real kids.) It’s no spoiler to tell you that they found a time machine. It was tucked away in the back of the high school’s science lab. And that’s just chapter one. Jax and his new friends in the local Detectives Club couldn’t wait to try out the time machine. Alice wasn’t so sure. But the Detectives Club was eager to try to solve a 150-year-old mystery. They just knew it would lead to untold riches if they could only discover what had happened to the lost gold of miner-turned-millionaire, Alistair McQueen. If that was all that happened in this story, it would be rather dull compared to what actually transpired. The Forbidden Treasure is the collaboration of Nathan Willard with his daughter Cosette and son Cillian - ages 8 and 6 when this three year-long odyssey began with a spark of inspiration by then aspiring author Cosette. With the help of their father, Cosette and Cillian developed the main characters and outlined the story. Then Cosette would write a chapter, Nathan would expand on what she wrote, and Cosette would do an edit. Finally, illustrations were added by all three – so, you know, drawings that are supposed to be by kids, actually are drawn by kids. "This is a fun mystery story about kids moving to a new town, escaping bullies, making friends and a finding a time machine. I found it amazing that kids wrote and illustrated it, but maybe that's why it's so interesting--because kids know what kids enjoy reading. I highly recommend it for any kids looking for a good book to read this summer!" - Cherilyn Christen Clough, Author, Chasing Eden: A Memoir "I like how Nathan (the dad) found a way to foster his kids' creativity and help them produce something tangible and cohesive. And the thing is, it is a good story and a fun read. It reminded me of C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew but this book is a true original . I can't wait to see what Cosette and Cillian will do next!" - James Matichuk "Suspenseful, well-written, fast-moving adventure...and I'm 63! I thought I'd do a quick scan of this book, as I'm a friend of the Willard family. To my delight, I found myself quickly absorbed into the storyline. Hidden compartments, time travel, frightening moments of sneaking about doing "investigative work." And then, the discovery!.... You'll have to explore the mystery yourself to find what evil the Detective Club manage to unveil. In short, the story and characters drew me in and held my attention to the very end. This is exactly the kind of books I loved reading as a child, and I'm happy to see that my imagination can still run just as wild now as it did back then. Now the authors have me anticipating the sequel. Seriously, I can't wait to pass this on to my grand nieces and nephews. Good wholesome fun! And well written too!" - Dan Steigerwald, Author & Editor of multiple books, including Grow Where You're Planted This is the first book written and illustrated by the Willards - Nathan (dad), Cosette (daughter, age 11), and Cillian (son, age 9). They live in Southern Oregon with Jessi (wife and mother), and three cats - Doom, Mittens, and Boo. They enjoy drawing, and making up stories of imaginary creatures and places. They also enjoy getting out in the wonderful natural world around them - at least Nathan does; Cillian and Cosette usually complain at first, but they enjoy it once they get there.   To learn how they conceived of, developed, and wrote this story together - a process that took over two years - you can see videos documenting their process on their Facebook page. There's even a Jake and Alice Adventure short film they made (that was before they decided to change Jake's name to Jax). (Links on Amazon author page)