Our town had a little excitement when one of the "jewels" was found in our town at a state park. It was the Caterpillar worth $12K.

Last time I looked there where five found, two not found, and five that were not in their original location. Someone might have found them and not known what they were.

I ran across a good children's book to use in class called A Treasure's Trove by Michael Stadther. It is a beautiful fairy tale with great illustrations. The main characters try to save the dying forest from the dust that falls each night. It’s a great book to use on many levels.

There is also a nationwide (U.S.) treasure hunt for jewels similar to those sought after by the characters in the book. We have broken up in teams to decipher clues throughout the story that lead to the jewels and have been tracking the book's progress with our findings. I think about 10 locations have been discovered by now. I saw the author present the first finder with their jewels a few weeks back on the Today Show.

It has turned out to be great fun for the kids. What’s cool about it too is that you can use it as an illustrated fairy tale to read with beginners or use it with elementary students in the realm of teamwork and problem solving.