about the book
Jacqueline Malone can’t stand secrets. Locked doors, sealed envelopes, and whispers across the room drive her crazy! It’s pure torture!
So when Jax receives a birthday present in the mail from an aunt she’s never heard of and her mom hides the package, determined to return it before Jax opens it, Jax decides to open the box no matter what.
But it won’t open.
Recruiting her cousins Ethan and Tyler, Jax sets off on a quest to solve both mysteries: the box itself and the aunt who sent it. If she happens across information on her anonymous father, so much the better!
What she uncovers are more family secrets, a magical legacy, and a dangerous relic from Greek mythology.
Maybe the package wasn’t a gift; maybe it was a call for help…
about the author
Whitaker Ringwald is a pen name for author Suzanne Selfors.
Born on an army base in Munich, Germany, Suzanne Selfors grew up in rainy Washington state’s Bainbridge Island in a historic old farmhouse built by her pioneer Norwegian ancestors. She lives there now with her husband, two children, a cat, a dog, and a bunch of messy chickens!
Suzanne has had the writing bug since fourth grade when she wrote, cast, and directed a school play. When she was older, she used writing and acting as a way to escape her parent’s failing marriage. She studied dance and art at Bennington College, eventually graduating with a degree in theatre from Occidental College. She went on to earn a master’s in communications from the University of Washington.
Wearing many hats, Suzanne worked as a prep cook, organic flower grower, children’s photographer, video producer, television sales assistant, marketing director, and now, finally, she is a domestic goddess and an author. She started writing seriously the day her youngest child stepped onto the school bus for the first time.
Her early manuscripts were dark adult stories. Realizing what she loved to read most was what she was sharing with her kids, she tried penning a middle grade novel and ended up making her first sale.
Making sure each book has a little magic in it, Suzanne writes in intense three-hour blocks. She never outlines, although she knows the beginning of the book and the end. Suzanne says she finds the journey in between is an exciting mystery.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Encyclopedia
Author interview: Bugs and Bunnies
Author interview: Realm Lovejoy
Author interview: Plotting and Scheming
Also by Whitaker Ringwald:
The Secret Cipher (Secret Box, Book 2). Katherine Tegen Books. 2015.
Written under the name Suzanne Selfors:
The Ever After High series. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2013-2015.
The Imaginary Veterinary series. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2013-2015.
The Smells Like… series. Little, Brown and Company. 2010-2012.
Fortune’s Magic Farm. Little, Brown and Company. 2009.
To Catch a Mermaid. Little, Brown and Company. 2007.
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