Seekers of the Lost Boy - Taryn Hayes

What is that? Simon wondered aloud. It was probably nothing, except... it glowed.

Set in Cape Town, South Africa, Seekers of the Lost Boy is an adventure that brings a homeschooling family face to face with the atrocities of their apartheid past.

It begins when 12-year-old Simon finds a bottle on the water's edge during a visit to Muizenberg beach on a cold winter's day. He brings the bottle home, dreaming of adventures, pirates and hidden treasures, only to have the bottle shatter within minutes of returning home. At first he is dismayed, but his disappointment is soon turned to intrigue when he discovers an envelope in the bottle. It contains a letter written 30 years prior by another 12-year-old school boy from the poverty-stricken Cape Flats. The letter is brief and contains one question: Who is God and does he care about me?

The letter fascinates the Ward family, so they embark on a journey of discovery. Through clues left in the letter, Simon, his mom and his twin 10-year-old siblings, Nic and Kim, find themselves revisiting their country's apartheid past as they search for their mystery letter-writer.