Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure

Author : Duncan Ball

Illustrator : Craig Smith

Format : Paperback, 82 pages

Condition : Used. Ex-library book.

Dimensions : 13cm x 19.5cm x 0.5cm

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About Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure

Emily solves the mystery of the magically-appearing moustaches and parachutes into a desert in search of a rare kind of mouse. Then she's off to Egypt to tour the upside-down pyramid of King Inverticheops. Nothing can get by Emily and her unique eyefinger.

About Duncan Ball

I was born in 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts, in the USA and was one of three children. I have a sister, Sally, who is two years older than me and a brother, Greg, who is three years younger.

My family moved from Boston to Anchorage, Alaska, when I was in primary school. We were there for four years.

There was a war going on in Korea and we lived on an Air Force base. To make sure that everyone was ready in case of an attack, the army and the air force had lots pretend air raids and practice fighting with soldiers running around shooting blanks at each other. For a kid, this was great fun. (Thankfully we never did get attacked.)

Later, when I was a teenager, my family moved to Madrid, Spain. We were there for three years. At first I went to a Spanish school where no one spoke English. That was kind of scary but the kids were very friendly and soon I learned enough Spanish to make friends. Living in Spain was a wonderful experience.

When I was a teenager I became interested in painting and drawing. I also started reading books. When I was in primary school I’d been a very poor reader but suddenly I became interested in reading. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up but I thought it might be fun to be a painter or a writer. People kept warning me that it would be a very hard way to make a living and that I’d better think of something more practical to do.

I finished high school in America, went to work for a while and saved a small amount of money. With it I travelled to Paris, France, and spent a year there doing a university course in French and French culture. But I ran out of money and had to move back to America again. There went to work again and also studied Mathematics and Chemistry at university.

When I moved to Sydney in 1974 I was working as an Industrial Chemist, doing chemical research. I still wanted to paint and write, which I did in my spare time.

I wrote a novel for adults which was published and later changed professions and worked as the editor of the School Magazine at the Department of Education of New South Wales. This was a wonderful opportunity to write for children and it was at this time that I knew that I wanted to write children’s books.

After a few years of editing the School Magazine in the daytime and writing books for kids in my spare time I quit my job to write full-time — which is what I still do.

I live in a little terrace house near the centre of Sydney in a suburb called Glebe. I live there with my wife Jill, and cat, Jasper. Jill used to be a professional musician and for years we didn't see each other in the evening as she was out playing her viola in orchestras six nights a week. Finally she decided she needed a change so she went back to university and studied to be a librarian. Jill now works during the day and we get to have dinner together and even go to the movies.

My two sons, Eliot and Ian, are grown up and have moved away from home. Eliot lives in Sydney, while Ian and his wife, Donna, and their three sons live in Tasmania. So I get to visit that beautiful island occasionally. I love to go walking there.

I have an office in my house where I sit in front of my computer and write my books. Some days I go out to visit schools and sometimes I work on other writing projects — like writing stories for TV — but mostly I'm in my office thinking up stories for kids and trying to tell them in the most fun way that I can.

When Jill and I aren't working there are lots of things we like to do. We love bushwalking and going to movies and concerts. Like most people, we also like to travel — last year we went to Yosemite National Park in California and hiked and hiked. We didn’t see any bears but we found big pawprints on our car windows every morning.

One thing I'd like to do is name my house. I've never lived in a house that had a name. But I don't know what to call it.

People who came to Australia years ago used to name their houses after the places they came from, like the name of the village they were born in or the name of a nearby mountain or lake. There is a lake near where I was born called Lake Webster, but its real name, the one the Native Americans gave it is Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg Lake. They say this means 'You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fish in the middle.' I though it would be fun to call my house Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg Cottage. But the front of the house is so narrow that the sign wouldn't fit.

Books

Selby
Selby’s Secret
Selby Speaks
Selby Screams
Selby Supersnoop
Selby Spacedog
Selby Snowbound
Selby Surfs
Selby Snaps
Selby Splits
Selby’s Stardom
Selby Sorcerer
Selby Scarmbled
Selby’s Shemozzle
Selby Shattered
Selby’s Joke Book
Selby’s Selection
Selby Santa
Selby’s Side-Splitting Joke Book
The Joke’s On Selby

Emily Eyefinger
Emily Eyefinger
Emily Eyefinger, Secret Agent
Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
Emily Eyefinger and the Black Volcano
Emily Eyefinger’s Alien Adventure
Emily Eyefinger and the Devil Bones
Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits
Emily Eyefinger and the Ghost Ship
Emily Eyefinger and the Puzzle in the Jungle
Emily Eyeginger and the City in the Sky
An Eyeful of Emily
Eyespy Emily Eyefinger

Other
My Sister Has a Big Black Beard
The Case of the Graveyard Ghost and Other Mysteries
The Case of the Vampire’s Wire and Other Mysteries
The Ghost and the Gory Story
The Ghost and the Goggle Box
The Ghost and the Shutterbug
Piggott Place
Piggotts in Peril
My Dog’ a Scaredy-Cat

Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure