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.
About the Author: Dr. 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.