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The Secret of the Golden Cowrie
Connie Lawrence loves secrets, and when Aunt Laura shares one with her, it leads them both to a puzzle connected with a beautiful golden cowrie shell. Connie plunges eagerly into the mystery. Grades 4-7.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1988
About the author
Gloria Repp
47 books57 followersBedtime? Story time! Gloria Repp’s earliest memories center on the stories her father told at bedtime. “What kind of story would you like tonight?” he’d ask, taking her onto his lap.
She always had an answer, different every time: “About a princess. And a lion. And maybe a horse—a brave, kind horse.”
After she learned to read, Gloria found stories on her own, but the ones she told herself seemed the most satisfying. Her mother died, her father remarried, she was sent away to school, and on many nights she treated herself to another imaginary adventure.
She became an omnivorous reader as the years passed, and finally she recognized what she’d always wanted to do: write down her stories for children to read.
She studied the craft of writing juvenile fiction and then began. Her three children seemed to like her stories, so she took the long road to publication and found that others liked them too. Since then, she has taught creative writing, worked as an editor, and written more books—for children, teens, and adults.
Many of Gloria’s books reflect her love for wilderness, and she says that the oceans, mountains, and forests of her childhood in Hawaii and Canada provide an inspiration she has never outgrown.
Recently, she has been exploring the New Jersey Pine Barrens, an incomparable wilderness of woods and rivers, bogs and ruins. One memorable spring evening, she listened to its frogs and found them irresistible. Before long, the hours of tramping through abandoned cranberry bogs bore fruit, and she began to dream of stories about a tiny Pine Barrens Treefrog named Pibbin.
Pibbin’s adventures have taken shape, young readers enjoy them, and each year she goes back to the Pine Barrens for more. The Tales of Friendship Bog continue.
She always had an answer, different every time: “About a princess. And a lion. And maybe a horse—a brave, kind horse.”
After she learned to read, Gloria found stories on her own, but the ones she told herself seemed the most satisfying. Her mother died, her father remarried, she was sent away to school, and on many nights she treated herself to another imaginary adventure.
She became an omnivorous reader as the years passed, and finally she recognized what she’d always wanted to do: write down her stories for children to read.
She studied the craft of writing juvenile fiction and then began. Her three children seemed to like her stories, so she took the long road to publication and found that others liked them too. Since then, she has taught creative writing, worked as an editor, and written more books—for children, teens, and adults.
Many of Gloria’s books reflect her love for wilderness, and she says that the oceans, mountains, and forests of her childhood in Hawaii and Canada provide an inspiration she has never outgrown.
Recently, she has been exploring the New Jersey Pine Barrens, an incomparable wilderness of woods and rivers, bogs and ruins. One memorable spring evening, she listened to its frogs and found them irresistible. Before long, the hours of tramping through abandoned cranberry bogs bore fruit, and she began to dream of stories about a tiny Pine Barrens Treefrog named Pibbin.
Pibbin’s adventures have taken shape, young readers enjoy them, and each year she goes back to the Pine Barrens for more. The Tales of Friendship Bog continue.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 12, 2024
I read this book in 5th grade. I loved mystery books, and though this was for school I enjoyed it. I was bound and determined to have a golden cowrie someday! It’s a fun book to read to children.
April 14, 2021
As a kid, I had a lot of books from this publisher - Bob Jones University Press - and I remembered this being one I enjoyed more than the others. That's probably due to the quality of the writing, which is excellently descriptive and engaging throughout. I like the birds, the marshes, and Connie's friendship with Stella the photographer.
Plus, there's a mystery, which is a genre I've always liked. I remember being fascinated by how Connie gradually figured out the cowrie's secret - meaning its hidden location - and holding my breath as she came face-to-face with the prowlers and thieves who were on the hunt for the same shell.
The problem is, as an adult, a lot of the mystery makes less sense. It's a reasonably intriguing puzzle for a kid, but it's hard for me to understand why two adult men would go to such extreme lengths for a shell. Which, according to a quick online search, was probably only worth one or two thousand dollars. Not a bad figure for a single shell, but certainly not worth the trouble they'd get into for assaulting and injuring an old lady or kidnapping a child. Worse, the motivation for the second thief is never explained. I kept expecting it to tie into the casino's attempts to buy the property, but that never came up again.
There were a lot of unnecessary threads. Why was Stella someone whose presence at the house was meant to be a secret? Why wouldn't Aunt Mabel approve of her? What was the deal with Ricky's parents? Was his pet raccoon actually okay after it got thrown on the ground and knocked out? Why were the teenagers harassing the birds in the refuge and what was the point in getting them arrested? Why did Laura's husband go out - and die - on the boat he was planning to sell?
While the elderly Aunt Laura may not be as senile as Aunt Mabel kept insisting, there is something a little bit strange about her secretive plans to give her entire house to a bunch of missionaries whom she plans to continue living with. That part felt particularly shoehorned in, along with the little subplot about Connie and her brother trying to preach to Ricky. This felt like a pretty traditional children's book with some religious elements thrown in so it'd fit with this particular publisher, which pushes really hard on themes like "only people who are Saved are kind and good and worth knowing."
Repp's storytelling is a bit more nuanced, and it's interesting that she poked a bit of fun at one rather unkind but very religious woman who takes care of Laura for a bit, so she can build up some extra stars in Heaven. It's refreshing that people aren't strictly good or evil based on their level of faith, and that the story is mostly about the mystery itself, rather than on trying to convert Ricky. (Or even one or both of the villains.)
Not that satisfying of a story as an adult, so I'll let this one go. But I can see what I liked about it when I was younger.
Plus, there's a mystery, which is a genre I've always liked. I remember being fascinated by how Connie gradually figured out the cowrie's secret - meaning its hidden location - and holding my breath as she came face-to-face with the prowlers and thieves who were on the hunt for the same shell.
The problem is, as an adult, a lot of the mystery makes less sense. It's a reasonably intriguing puzzle for a kid, but it's hard for me to understand why two adult men would go to such extreme lengths for a shell. Which, according to a quick online search, was probably only worth one or two thousand dollars. Not a bad figure for a single shell, but certainly not worth the trouble they'd get into for assaulting and injuring an old lady or kidnapping a child. Worse, the motivation for the second thief is never explained. I kept expecting it to tie into the casino's attempts to buy the property, but that never came up again.
There were a lot of unnecessary threads. Why was Stella someone whose presence at the house was meant to be a secret? Why wouldn't Aunt Mabel approve of her? What was the deal with Ricky's parents? Was his pet raccoon actually okay after it got thrown on the ground and knocked out? Why were the teenagers harassing the birds in the refuge and what was the point in getting them arrested? Why did Laura's husband go out - and die - on the boat he was planning to sell?
While the elderly Aunt Laura may not be as senile as Aunt Mabel kept insisting, there is something a little bit strange about her secretive plans to give her entire house to a bunch of missionaries whom she plans to continue living with. That part felt particularly shoehorned in, along with the little subplot about Connie and her brother trying to preach to Ricky. This felt like a pretty traditional children's book with some religious elements thrown in so it'd fit with this particular publisher, which pushes really hard on themes like "only people who are Saved are kind and good and worth knowing."
Repp's storytelling is a bit more nuanced, and it's interesting that she poked a bit of fun at one rather unkind but very religious woman who takes care of Laura for a bit, so she can build up some extra stars in Heaven. It's refreshing that people aren't strictly good or evil based on their level of faith, and that the story is mostly about the mystery itself, rather than on trying to convert Ricky. (Or even one or both of the villains.)
Not that satisfying of a story as an adult, so I'll let this one go. But I can see what I liked about it when I was younger.
April 2, 2020
A nice mystery for kids with a good message about trusting God's plan. Connie was a sweet girl, and I liked both the lessons she learned and the fact that she wasn't totally exasperating in the process of learning them. The timeline did feel a bit dragged out, and through most of the book, it didn't seem as though Connie was in much of a hurry to solve the riddle, since she could apparently go hours or days without thinking of it at all. It did make it a little hard for me to feel much urgency over the outcome. Still an enjoyable mystery for kids. :)
3.5 stars
Content--mentions of stealing, breaking and entering, and other crimes; a girl is nearly run down by a motorcycle; a child is grabbed and tied up
3.5 stars
Content--mentions of stealing, breaking and entering, and other crimes; a girl is nearly run down by a motorcycle; a child is grabbed and tied up
May 7, 2023
This was an interesting mystery, geared towards middle schoolers.
I liked the setting - a marshy, shore area of NJ - and the interest created in learning about our natural world. I also liked the variety of characters in the book, and I appreciated the spiritual growth in the children, along with their desire to be witnesses for the Lord. But yet, I thought the author portrayed them as normal, imperfect people, so that the readers can identify with them, and hopefully, be challenged to learn some of the same lessons as they read the book.
I would have given the book 4 1/2 stars, if I could have.
I liked the setting - a marshy, shore area of NJ - and the interest created in learning about our natural world. I also liked the variety of characters in the book, and I appreciated the spiritual growth in the children, along with their desire to be witnesses for the Lord. But yet, I thought the author portrayed them as normal, imperfect people, so that the readers can identify with them, and hopefully, be challenged to learn some of the same lessons as they read the book.
I would have given the book 4 1/2 stars, if I could have.
April 5, 2023
This was such a good book ! My favorite part is when Connie finds the secret door in her room that lets her go in her uncles study . One day after she discovered the study she is looking for one of her uncles diaries by it is missing! Will she ever find the missing golden Cowrie ?
November 10, 2020
I read this with my 5th graders and they found it a little slow but enjoyed it towards the end.
October 30, 2025
Author: Gloria Repp
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Recommended Age: 12-14
Date Published: 1988
Summary:
When Connie Lawrence, her brother, and her mom go to visit her Aunt Laura, she stumbles into a mystery that could bankrupt her aunt’s home. As Connie desperately searches for the missing golden cowrie her uncle may have hidden before he died, she finds herself entangled in a problem that only she can figure out.
Notes from The Radical Reader:
Noble Characters:
Connie has lived in a Christian home her whole life, but never really considered what it means to trust God with everything. When she finds herself faced with a mystery that truly tests her faith in God, she must reconsider what she has learned and see if she actually believes it.
Captivating Plots:
After her husband’s death, Aunt Laura may lose her home. That is, unless Connie can find the valuable golden cowrie shell her uncle hid. But why did he hide it? And who else is looking for the shell?
Elaborate Worlds:
Aunt Laura’s home and the surrounding countryside in New Jersey has many incredible places to practice photography, explore, and get entangled in the mysterious happenings around the home. Can Connie find the golden cowrie before her family has to leave, or will Aunt Laura lose her home?
No violence, sexual tension, or profanity.
https://theradicalreader.com/the-secr...
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Recommended Age: 12-14
Date Published: 1988
Summary:
When Connie Lawrence, her brother, and her mom go to visit her Aunt Laura, she stumbles into a mystery that could bankrupt her aunt’s home. As Connie desperately searches for the missing golden cowrie her uncle may have hidden before he died, she finds herself entangled in a problem that only she can figure out.
Notes from The Radical Reader:
Noble Characters:
Connie has lived in a Christian home her whole life, but never really considered what it means to trust God with everything. When she finds herself faced with a mystery that truly tests her faith in God, she must reconsider what she has learned and see if she actually believes it.
Captivating Plots:
After her husband’s death, Aunt Laura may lose her home. That is, unless Connie can find the valuable golden cowrie shell her uncle hid. But why did he hide it? And who else is looking for the shell?
Elaborate Worlds:
Aunt Laura’s home and the surrounding countryside in New Jersey has many incredible places to practice photography, explore, and get entangled in the mysterious happenings around the home. Can Connie find the golden cowrie before her family has to leave, or will Aunt Laura lose her home?
No violence, sexual tension, or profanity.
https://theradicalreader.com/the-secr...
February 7, 2016
Gloria Repp weaves a beautiful story of a girl finding her place in the world as she struggles to solve a mystery. The BJUP authors do a great job of making the crisis something that will help someone. The resolutions are satisfying, and the characters are great examples to follow.
November 19, 2016
This book was great!!!It really showed me a lot about trusting the Lord.
January 11, 2019
I didn't know.
I would have scored it higher, except for all the praying . Ruined a good mystery for me. But I liked the story.
I would have scored it higher, except for all the praying . Ruined a good mystery for me. But I liked the story.
January 12, 2012
I read this in middle school and really liked it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews