A Treasure's Trove (by Michael Stadther)

Meanwhile, Ana, the newly married wife of Zac, a goodhearted woodcarver, is kidnapped by Rusful, who demands that Zac recover the jewels the fairies have stolen from him and hidden. Throughout the story and pictures are clues to the real-world locations of 12 jeweled creatures, now all found, which the author had hidden around the country.

Michael Stadther had been obsessed since childhood with treasure hunts, so he decided to write and illustrate a book with clues to hidden treasures. When he couldn't find a publisher willing to bite, he published it himself and taught those snooty publishers an important lesson: With the right marketing, even mediocre fluff like this can hit the bestseller lists. There's nothing really wrong with A TREASURE'S TROVE, and nothing really objectionable either. It's just not very good.

Stadther has considerable talent, and it's clearly a labor of love. But the story is stock and predictable, the characters are straight out of central casting, and the paintings are garish and awkward. That's not to say your kids won't enjoy it, though they may be disappointed that the treasures have all been found. Notably, hardly any children were involved in finding the treasures.