Charles Dickens is considered one of the greatest English authors of all time. Dickens often used the pen name Boz. Much of his work first appeared in periodicals and magazines in serialized form. Unlike many writers of his time Dickens wrote the entire novel before serializing it. He made frequent use of the cliffhanger to keep the public interested. Along a wasteland called "Tom Tiddler's Ground," five English children find a half-sunken canalboat and fix up its cabin for their clubhouse. When they find a piece of gold, two sinister-looking men try to run them away. The chiildren begin to uncover an old mystery of a missing inheritance. For older elementary grades.