The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and The Mystery of Echo Lake

By Steven Zeichner

The Jinson Twins, Joe and Debbie, decide to start a business during their summer vacation, hiring themselves out to do odd jobs. They find themselves in an odder job than they counted on when Mrs. Gray, who lives with her talkative parrot, the Captain, in an old house down off River Road, engages them to help clean out her basement.
Aided by their friend, Mr. Benjamin, the proprietor of the Resource Recovery and Recycling Center (a.k.a. the junkyard), the twins use the clues that Mrs. Gray’s late husband, a former sea captain, left behind to figure out, using scientific principles, where the captain hid his enormous collection of antique Spanish gold coins.

But some other people know about the treasure too and have no intention of letting an old lady who spends most of her time with a parrot, an old man who runs a junkyard, and a couple of kids get the treasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven Zeichner
• Release date: Jul 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465712837

Steven Zeichner

Steven L. Zeichner received his BA in Biology from the University of Chicago and continued his studies at Chicago, obtaining his MD and his PhD in Microbiology as a student in the Medical Scientist Training Program. He trained in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He worked at the National Institutes of Health for several years and now works at Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC where he is Senior Investigator in the Children’s Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Zeichner studies the basic biology of HIV and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, is working to find new ways to make vaccines, and is studying the relationships that link people with the microbes that make people their home. He also directs clinical trials that study new therapies for children infected with HIV. He is the author or co-author of more than 50 scientific publications, and is the editor of the first edition of the Handbook of Pediatric HIV Care (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins), the first edition of the Textbook of Pediatric HIV Care (Cambridge University Press), and the second edition of the Handbook of Pediatric HIV Care (Cambridge University Press). He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Rachel Moon, MD, also a pediatrician, and with his two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth.

Book preview

The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and The Mystery of Echo Lake

Steven L. Zeichner

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Steven L. Zeichner

Printing 3

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

*****

DEDICATION

For Sarah and Elizabeth, who told me to write this book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 - To the Lake, Again

Chapter 2 - A Job and a Customer

Chapter 3 - Mrs. Gray and the Captain

Chapter 4 - Competition

Chapter 5 - Boxes

Chapter 6 - The Map

Chapter 7 - Echo Lake

Chapter 8 - Islands

Chapter 9 - Crickets

Chapter 10 - Chirps

Chapter 11 - Maps and Songs

Chapter 12 - Finding the Song

Chapter 13 - Songs and Echoes

Chapter 14 - Treasure

An Experiment

Author's Postcript

*****

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Thanks to Rachel Moon and Sarah and Elizabeth Zeichner for helpful suggestions, careful reading, and patience while this book was being written. Thanks also to Kathy Ogle for careful reading and suggestions and to Charles Askins for excellent help on resolving some technical details (of course any failings are my sole responsibility).

Page 73 from A Pires and RR Hoy, "Temperature coupling in cricket acoustic communication. I. Field and laboratory studies of temperature effects on calling song production and recognition in Gryllus firmus" Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 1992, volume 171, pages 69-78 is reprinted with the kind permission of Prof. Ron Hoy, Cornell University.

Cover art by Stan Ragets. Design concept by Sarah Zeichner.

Author photo by Joyce George.

*****

1 – To the Lake, Again

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Joe, my helpful twin brother, had called window, again. So, that’s how I ended up sitting sandwiched between Mr. Benjamin, who was really big, on my left, and Mrs. Gray, on my right. Mr. Benjamin smelled like a combination of motor oil, metal shavings, and rust. Mrs. Gray, who was small and skinny, smelled like basement dust, stale laundry, and some kind of perfume that went out of fashion fifty years ago. I’m about average size for my age (12), like Joe, but I was actually taller than Mrs. Gray. On the other hand, I felt like I maybe came up to Mr. Benjamin’s elbow, if I stretched.

The buckles on Mr. Benjamin’s overalls poked my left side, while some sharp metal fasteners from an undergarment that you could probably find in the Smithsonian poked through Mrs. Gray’s flowery lavender dress into my right. Joe seemed perfectly happy hanging out the right side of the International Harvester pickup, but then he would, since he had the best spot, at the end of a bench seat made to fit three. Yes, I know, International Harvester doesn’t even exist any more, but they used to a long time ago, and made pickup trucks. I’m sure Joe could tell you all about that, but I’m also sure, without asking Joe, that the one we were in had to have been made just about the same year they made Mrs. Gray’s underwear.

Anyway, I knew the truck was old because its springs, shocks, seat cushions, and headliner were all shot, so every time we went over a bump, the truck bottomed out and the spring in the seat poked my butt, then the truck launched me up toward the roof, where a metal bar smacked the top of my head and sent me back toward the friendly seat. We were on a dirt road, headed out to Echo Lake, so there were a lot of bumps.

Joe claims I look at the world through a five-part rating scale: really annoying, annoying, kind of annoying, OK I guess, and OK, which we usually just abbreviate, like, for example RA for really annoying. This is useful, because a lot of things get rated A, and if grownups overhear us rating something an A they think they’re doing really well. I’ve told Joe, though, that it’s definitely a six-part scale, with great being the top end. Joe says he’s never heard me rate something great. I was rating the ride A, but just because I was trying my best to feel generous, because I feel as if I really have to reserve RA for things that are really bad, and because I thought we might be coming close to solving the Mystery of Echo Lake.

Yes, I know, The Mystery of Echo Lake sounds like a Nancy Drew book, which, in my opinion, isn’t so bad, at least if you’re talking about the old ones. I think they’re kind of fun, and I would even rate them OK. The new ones, though, in my opinion, stink (I’d give them an A), but then that’s for you to decide yourself. Of course, if this was really a Nancy Drew book, the last thing you’d read at the end of this sentence would be, …, thought the young sleuth. But it isn’t, so you won’t.

The whole thing, though, did have the feel of a mystery: old lady, junkyard owner (Mr. Benjamin), and some really creepy, even scary characters, but then I’m getting ahead of myself. Of course, to make the mystery complete, there was also a treasure map. Or at least something some of us thought could be a treasure map. It was a rolled up piece of Tyvek Home Wrap. You know, that white stuff they staple onto the outside of new houses when they are going up, before they put on the siding. Joe would, I’m sure, be happy to tell you it was made of spun polyethylene fibers, something he must have memorized off of the DuPont website. But the main thing is, it’s just about indestructible. All that white Tyvek Home Wrap on all those houses will probably still be around long after the houses themselves have rotted away. So, bizarrely, Tyvek Home Wrap was probably the best thing someone could think to write a treasure map on. Our Tyvek Home Wrap treasure map scroll had some cryptic scrawls in Magic Marker on it, which kind of looked like a map of Echo Lake, plus a really bad (call it an A) poem, or maybe the lyrics to a song on it. Some of us were trying to figure out the lyrics, and some of us thought the map and the lyrics might be clues that would lead us to the treasure. Yes, I know, I use a lot of quotes, but if you had seen and heard what I had heard, you would think that that’s just what my story needs. Of course, I could be sitting in front of you, waving my fingers in the air to make little quote signs as often as I needed to, if I was telling you this in person, but then Joe would probably be there too, since we are almost always together, and if he saw me making quotes in the air, he’d probably give me an elbow in the ribs. He hates it when I make quotes in the air.

We didn’t just have the four people riding in the truck, we also had our own little menagerie. With us, in the cab, we had the Captain, Mrs. Gray’s pet Grey African parrot (the smartest kind), and back in the bed, we had Kerby, Mr. Benjamin’s bloodhound mix, along with a rowboat, oars, buckets, shovels, and a bunch of other random stuff we got from Mr. Benjamin’s junkyard or Mrs. Gray’s basement. The stuff we had along, like a compass, binoculars, a stopwatch, a thermometer, a long measuring tape, and the very important notebook, was supposed to help us figure out the mystery and find the treasure using scientific principles. Or at least that was Mr. Benjamin’s idea.

Mr. Benjamin was really big on scientific principles. Just about every time we saw him, Mr. Benjamin gave us some kind of lecture about scientific principles, but I have to admit he was usually a big help, despite his annoying (really OK, I guess) lectures. We went down to his junkyard a lot; whenever we had a problem with one of our projects – and, let’s face it, we had a lot of projects – we’d just go down to Mr. Benjamin’s junkyard and somehow, after measuring things, recording the measurements, looking things up, and thinking about what we were trying to do, we usually were able to find out what we needed to find out.

Mr. Benjamin didn’t call his place a junkyard, of course. To him, it was Benjamin’s Resource Recovery and Recycling Center, and Mr. Benjamin thought of it as a calling, a way to get people what they needed at a fair price and do something to help the environment, but everyone else in town thought of it – and called it – a junkyard. It actually was much more than a junkyard for us, since we had so many projects. And Mr. Benjamin was much more than a junk dealer. He was, as he often reminded us, a Tau Beta Pi (the engineering honor society, in case you wanted to know) graduate in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University, and as part of his regular uniform, underneath his overalls he almost always wore an Aggie T-shirt. I assume you are wondering why a TBP graduate of NCA&T would be running a junkyard. Mr. Benjamin said that when he graduated, he got drafted, and when he came back from the Army, he realized his dad was getting older, and couldn’t really manage the family junk business by himself, so he started out helping him and one thing led to another, and after a while he found himself running the family junk business. Our mom said that the reason Mr. Benjamin went into the family junk business was because it was very hard for a black man to get a job as an engineer back when Mr. Benjamin graduated. Maybe Mr. Benjamin didn’t want to talk about that, or maybe his reason was the real reason, or maybe it was some of both, but we were always glad that he had the junkyard (sorry, the Resource Recovery and Recycling Center) because that meant that he was there to help us with our projects. And, like I said, we had a lot of projects.

We had a lot of projects mainly because our mom has some pretty unusual ideas about, (here it goes again, the quotes I mean), Child Rearing. She believes in the principle of Independence At An Early Age (IAAEA). For example, last Spring Break our mom took us to New York with her. Our mom is the head of the microbiology lab at the hospital and there was a big meeting she had to go to in New York. There was no one to stay with us at home, not since our father died three years ago, and even though Mom believed in IAAEA (which Joe and I usually pronounce aiEEEE!), she still didn’t feel comfortable leaving two 12 year olds to themselves for almost a whole week, so she brought us along.

The first day we were there she decided that we should go to the Museum of Natural History while she was at her meeting. Our mom bought us Metrocards when we got into the city, and the next day, before she went off to the meeting she said, OK, here’s an extra card key to the room, and here’s some money for lunch (it wasn’t much, mom’s always been pretty thrifty). Now you can just take the subway up to the museum. You can take the cell phone and call if you have any trouble.

We were staying just off Times Square, at the Marriott Marquis, since that’s where the meeting was and since mom’s work was paying, which was pretty cool, especially the view. Of course, I know now that what we should have done was just walk over to 8th Avenue and take the C Train up to 81st Street, but we didn’t know that and Mom didn’t leave detailed instructions, so we went down the first subway stairs we came to. The maps in the station were all scratched up, so it kind of looked like you could take the Number 1 Train to the museum. We got on the train going north, didn’t see any stop for the museum, and we were up at 96th Street before we know it. That started to be scary, especially since it turned out our phone didn’t work down in the subway. We couldn’t understand why our phones didn’t work, because there were at least five people on our car with hands-free cell phone earpieces who seemed to be talking away. Around about 86th street, Joe and I suddenly realized that these people must have been TALKING TO THEMSELVES and were only using the cell phone receivers to cover it up. That was really scary.

Anyway, we saw other people walking up and down through the train (including some kids), so we crossed over into the next car, which was also really scary, going between the cars as the train was rattling and bouncing along, where we found a map clear enough for us to read. From the map, it looked like we could take the number 1 train all the way up to 168th Street and then take the C train back down to 81st Street and the museum, so that’s what we did.

We had a good time at the museum, but decided at the end of the day to walk back down to our hotel. We didn’t end up saying anything to Mom, though. After all, we wanted to go back the next day, and even with IAAEA, we didn’t want to worry her. We did tell a few of our friends, though, once we got back home. Some of them told their parents, and a couple of days later one of them called our mom and told her she was guilty of child neglect for letting us ride the New York City Subway by ourselves and ought to be reported to Child Protective Services. Our mom replied that, if she really felt strongly, it was her civic duty to go ahead and file a report, but before she did that she ought know that they don’t really have many school buses in New York, and that the way a lot of 12 year old kids get to school is by taking the subway to school every day so if she did file a report she would end up looking foolish, ignorant, and uninformed. We didn’t hear anything else about it, and we’re still living with our mom, so I guess she wimped out.

Mom’s IAAEA policy, though, really blossomed this summer. She told us she was done paying for camps, that she thought most kids were overscheduled, overscripted, and preprogrammed like ridiculous robots and that it was time we planned our own summer activities, and that she thought it would also be a good idea if we made a little money that

Reviews for The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and The Mystery of Echo Lake

[robert.zimmermann · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was very surprised by the way I was hooked into this book. This is a children's book, but could easily (as it did with me) grab the attention and enjoyment of an adult. From the beginning the reader is left wondering what the opening scene has to do with most of the rest of the book, being that the opening scene is the outcome of what comes after it in the book with the exception of the final chapters or two. After a few chapters though, I forgot my question about what the opening scene was there for and read it like it didn't exist. With this said, I feel there isn't a need for it to have been there, but it does add a little to this being a story told by a child character. The recollection factor was well used.

I also enjoyed the addition of science into the book. When writing a children's book the amount of "learning" thrown in can either get more kids interesting in reading it or push others away depending on how it was written into the story. I think these elements were written perfectly into the story. Even at my age, while reading this I didn't realize that I was reading about science or learning till I got halfway through those parts. It wasn't terribly hard to follow either, which is always good for children.

I did feel though, that the "Yellow Jackets" were either unnecessary characters or just needed more involvement. This can be said about the strange man with the blue truck. At the end, his place in the story is explained. But in both cases I can't say for sure whether or not the story benefited from their involvement. Also if there was more development and concern shown from the other characters toward the "villains," I think this book could easily have been geared more towards an adult audience looking for a crime/suspense novel.

One last minor point to make. There were, if I remember my count correctly, about four sentences/paragraphs in the book that need some attention. The entire book was written in the first person from Debbie's point of view. In these few areas though, the author has slipped and written in the third person (i.e. "they" instead of "we.") This doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the book though, but I feel it should be mentioned to help out the author for the future. Plus no body, especially me, is perfect grammatically.

I do hope that Zeichner decides to write another Jinson Twins book. I would enjoy to read more of their adventures.

[jbarr5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and The Mystery of Echo Lake by Steven Zeichner.SO Funny, the air quotes and 'resource recovery and recycling center' and "A" and RA.Just like a mystery for pre teens, Nancy Drew type mystery or Hardy BoysHas all the makings of a mystery: map and treasure and mysterious things.Boys start out trying to find a job for the summer, they are 12 year old twin boys.One looks like a girl his hair is SO long. They do find a job organizing and old woman'sbasement into different categories. Appears to be things from her dead husbands ship.Some will be kept, some mailed and some sold.There was even a box of things that Mrs. Gray gave to them to bring home. One such thingwas a scroll with a map drawn on it and some riddles to figure out. It stated that's wherethe treasure was. They go to Mr. Benjamin so he can help them with the map and what itcould mean. He's the owner of the junkyard.Different kids and a man are after them but they don't know why.Can see how the teaching aids would help kids learn about science: charts, spreadsheets, graphs, etc.They all head back to Mrs. Gray's house and ask if she can maybe help them solve the mystery.She can in a way and that's how they start this book out, on their way to Echo Lake to find the treasure.The yellow jackets almost get them at the lake, and then the other man enters Mrs. Gray house with his gun to get the real treasure.Love the science things at the end.

[caropg_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Originally posted at: A Girl that likes BookI got this book through the Member Giveaway program at LybraryThing.com, but with the moving and what not I forgot I had it!. I saw the description of the book, and it got me at “sciences detectives”The story is told in the voice of Debbie. One thing I have to mention is that a couple of time this changed for a paragraph, to being told by a third person, and then back to first person (Debbie) without any apparent reason. I guess this just slipped from the editors. Other than that I have to give it to Zeicher, I felt like listening to my 12 year old cousin, and I imagine the fact the he is trained in pediatrics and has 2 daughters gave him the practice to know how a 12 year old girl would express herself. This twins, besides being smart, are not out of the ordinary twins, no special language, no reading of each other thoughts, which I actually liked a lot, because all they do during the mystery is trough thinking, and I love a book that promotes this. After a “long” time where it looks like no-one is going to hire them, they get a call from Mrs Gray an elder lady who needs their help. Along they find the treasure of a map, that her husband promised to her. Here is where Mr. Benjamin, an engineer, comes to help them. Now, why wasn’t him in a more “science” field instead of engineering, I don’t know. With the author’s background in microbiology I was expecting another career for the person pushing the scientific method, but that’s just me. The book actually makes reference to a real research article (including the URL at NCBI, I’m geeking out here, sorry) and I loved that. Extra points for the last part of the book where you can do an experiment to evaluate the speed of sound. I think this is the type of book I would love to read to my future daughter and hope that she also falls in love with sicence, or at least understands where my love is coming from.

[rhonda1111 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives, and the Mystery of Echo Lake by Steven l Zeichner 4 STARSI was entertained by the book, the science was interesting but some was over my head. I was thinking taking some of the crickets home and listening in a quite room.I do like how they show reasoning out and how to find out things. Showing science in everyday type of usefulness.Joe and Debbie Jinson are 12 years old twins being raised by a single mom. They spend a lot of time on their own. This summer instead of going to a camp they are supposed to earn some money and save for collage. They decide to put signs up to do summer jobs.Finally a old lady hires them and she seams a little batty to me. They are taking things out of boxes and putting them in other boxes down in the basement. Finally Mrs. Gray tells them that her money is gone and she needs to sell the old house. Her husband had a treasure of old gold coins but she could not find it.The twins think they might of found a map and ask their friend Mr. Benjamin what he thinks. Mr. Benjamin is always showing and asking questions using science tools.Their is a scary old man that follows the twins and in fact almost ran over them while on their bikes.Their are three older boys who destroys their signs and threatens them to stop trying to do work.Joe and Debbie are trying to figure out the clues to the map if it is in fact a map. It is a nice mystery and you might even learn a little too when your done. I would read more about the Jinson twins.I was given this book from Librarythings member giveaway in exchange of honest review.PUB 2011 185 pages

[milibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Twelve year old twins Debbie & Joe are looking for summer work when Mrs. Gray hires them to help her pack up some of her late husband's belongings. In the process they discover a map which they believe will lead them to some hidden treasure. With the help of the junkyard owner, his dog, and Mrs. Gray's parrot they set out to use science to solve the mystery. While this book has an interesting premise, it does lack some in character development and growth. The characters do not change through the story, and there is never any question of how the adventure will end. The science was more interesting than the characters or plot. There are also a few typographical errors and changes in narrative voice. Best for upper elementary age students or junior high.

[carolee888 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives and the Mystery of Echo Lake and is a great page turning story for young adults and older people like me! The story is very engaging. I got up in the middle of the night to see how it ended! It has everything, quirky characters, treasure, map and a riddle to solve with the help of science. The Jinson twins, Debbie who tells the story and her twin brother Joe are quirky on their own right. Their mother tells them that she isn't going to send them to summer camp any more, not going to shell out the money for it any more. So they think that they should do some kind of work instead of spending the time off just pitching pebbles into cans.They start on a project for a Mrs. Gray and they meet The Captain, a parrot and get involved in more than they ever imagined. Helping them is Mr. Benjamin who owns theResource Recovery and Recycling Center. He drives a truck so old that it may be one of the last of the International Harvester trucks.This well-crafted mystery brings in several branches of science and teaches the twins to become young detectives.I would recommend this book to young adults and above who love mysteries. I admit that I was drawn to the book by the cover showing the International Harvester truck with a view of Echo Lake.I received this book as a win from GoodReads but that in no way influenced my review of this book.

[herdingcats_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

12 year old twins Joe and Debbie put up signs tying to get summer jobs since their mom told them that they are too old for expensive summer camps and that they should go out and earn some money. Their first, and only, job offer comes from a mysterious old woman who lives in an out of the way, tumbling down house who wants help packing things up so she can move. The mystery comes in when the twins find a map that seems to give clues to where to find her late husband's hidden treasure. They must, however use science to solve the mystery, and, assisted by their friend Mr. Benjamin who runs the local "junk yard", they set out to find the missing treasure. The book is well written and interesting and the added bonus of real science in use makes it all the better. I got this book free to review from The Library Thing.

[winnemucca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An Engaging ReadThis is a very enjoyable mystery geared toward fifth through eighth-grade readers. The use of science to solve the mystery gives the novel even more appeal. It is refreshingly unique from the majority of books that are currently being released for this age market. Debbie and Joe have great kid appeal. They are kids being kids. They create a summer business, ride bikes, and search for a solution to Mrs. Gray's mystery. Their dog, Kerby, and Mrs. Gray's parrot, Captain, add color to the tale. The Jinson Twins, Science Detectives would make a great gift. It is wholesome read and a tad-bit educational but most of all it is lot of fun. Kids will fall right into the story. This book really needs to be the first in a series.

[debrarbell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thank You to Stephen Zeichner for a copy of his book The jinson twins, Science Detectives, and the Mystery of Echo Lake. Facinating story and easy to read. Not the usual adult mystery, but great for young adult readers of mystery. I passed this book on to my 12 year old nephew and he loved it! He finished it over the weekend and now is all into science and experiments! We need more books like this for kids to enjoy.