The Mildenhall Treasure
Buried one foot below the surface of a field called Thistley Green in  the English town of Mildenhall, a most fantastic Roman treasure lay for  centuries until a ploughman came along in the 1940s and accidentally dug it up.  What followed was the worst kind of tragedy, because it involves human greed and  abuse of a good man's innocence. Gordon Butcher, discoverer of this treasure,  was entitled by British law to the full amount of its market value. Butcher was  not aware of this law; however, another ploughman named Ford did know about it,  and managed to bamboozle Butcher out of the fortune.This remarkable story was written in 1946 by a young Roald Dahl, who went on to  write such beloved classics asJames and the Giant PeachandCharlie and the Chocolate  Factory. Dahl's inimitable style blazes through even in his early  career. The true story, republished with stunning art by Ralph Steadman, is as  riveting as if it had happened today, with heartbreaking notes of unbearable  unfairness and sincere naiveté. Each page, thickly covered with rich,  dark splashes of paint, sketchy faces, and bits of collage, has a wild and  ominous tenor, reflected in the ferocious weather that fateful day when the  hapless farmer found--and lost--the greatest treasure ever found in the British  Isles. (Ages 9 and older)--Emilie Coulter