Darius Bell and The Glitter Pool

What will the Bell Gift be? Everyone in the British town is looking forward to something amazing, but Darius wonders whether his family has the money for anything at all. Every 25 years his family symbolically repays the town for their generations-ago gift of the Bell Estate, which rewarded an ancestor for his great deeds and statesmanship. Bells have given statues and tall spires and bells in the past, but the family money has dwindled away, leaving the house in need of repair.

As his big brother prepares to go to university and become an engineer, Darius thinks and thinks about what the Bell Gift could be. Time is growing short, and if the Bell family does not present a Gift to the town council (and that grumpy mayor), then they will lose their home. A small earthquake rattles their corner of England, setting the long-stopped tower clock back in motion (it now chimes unpredictably) and opening a cave under an old stone gazebo on a far corner of the estate.

Darius has an idea for the Bell Gift, but it will take a geologist’s expertise, some legal advice, and lots of help from his friends to make it happen. Will his parents finally admit that there’s no money for an extravagant Gift? Can Darius keep his idea under wraps until it’s ready? Will the mayor accept their Gift or will the town council take away their home?

You’ll cheer for this clever young man with imagination and heart as he tries to find a way to honor both the spirit and the legalities of the Bell Gift. 214 pages

Recommended by: Katy Manck, Librarian-at-Large (retired academic/corporate/school librarian), Gilmer, Texas, USA