"Good as Gold," by Candace Buford

In the past few weeks I have been exploring the story “Good as Gold” by Candace Buford. In this story it talks about Casey Foster and her friends trying to find the lost treasure of Toulouse. In their journey they faced many challenges that tested them both mentally and physically. I thought the book was really good because it really did show Casey's determination to learn and uncover the truth about her own town. According to the article “Simon & Schuster" the author, Candance Buford, was always inspired and drawn to books that talk about complex stories about colored people and that is where she got the idea to write about a very complex and interesting story about the girl named Casey Foster.

In the book it talks about Casey Foster who has to balance her work, school and helping her family with their money problems. As the book progresses, Casey teams up with Tanner, Squid, and B and they go through many things together to try to find this treasure. Along the way, they faced many challenges and obstacles caused by certain people in the book and they were determined to stop them and get the the treasures for themselves and keep the town's truth hidden, 

“Good as gold” is the story of Casey Foster. In the beginning of the book we see that she is balancing a job and going to high school because her family is facing serious financial problems. Her father's business went bankrupt and Casey is really struggling to fit in, she is no longer a part of the wealthy side of town but she also doesn’t fit in with the other side either. In the book she is determined to find a way to regain her old life.  As the book progresses, Casey finds out that the coins she once owned were connected to hidden treasures that were worth a lot. Tanner, Squid, and B went out to figure out where the treasure was but despite all of their determinations they could never find the treasure and either was always stopped by someone or they just couldn’t find it. As the story goes on, Casey begins developing feelings for Tanner. Using everything they had discovered they connected the clues and the group finally figured out where the treasure was located. After finding the treasure, Casey became determined to tell the truth to the entire town.

In the book, Squid and B viewed Casey as a rich girl, while her old friend no longer considered her as one of them due to her father’s bankruptcy. At the beginning of the book, Casey was primarily focused on fixing her father’s financial problems. She focused on maintaining her status even though she knew her friends viewed her differently because of her current situations. As the story progresses, she discovers a hidden treasure with her friends and develops a romantic feeling towards Tanner and she reveals the truth about the town. In a sense at the end she wasn’t ashamed of her financial issues and she enjoyed hanging out with her new friends that helped her find treasure then her old friends. 

Overall, I thought this book was very interesting because of the well- developed plot, and how it describes the emotion of all the amazing characters. Something I also really loved about the book was all the adventure and the treasure and mystery of the town and how her friends uncovered the truth. It also showed how well the main character Casey developed throughout the story. It gives the reader a sense of what Casey would do to uncover the truth of the town and help her family and friends. But one drawback of the book is that they rushed the ending and really didn’t add any small details compared to the beginning of the book. 

I definitely think readers who really enjoy watching the show “Outer banks” would really enjoy this book because you could see connections between the show and story. They both talk about mysteries and hidden secrets that they are trying to uncover and find and their close relationship towards friendship. 

“Good as Gold” was a very interesting and exciting book to read because it talked about so many things and how and why characters acted a certain way. All the treasure hunting and failing showed that all the characters tried their best whether it is to find the treasure or uncover the truth. It makes the story very engaging and it is definitely and must read.