Young, would-be adventurers or armchair travelers will enjoy exploring with these two straightforward, engaging...
This adventure novel recounts two American teen brothers’ encounters with tour guides, wildlife and armed poachers in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
The brothers begin by introducing themselves, each in a short, engaging, humorous chapter that reveals their warm but occasionally antagonistic relationship as well as each brother’s qualities. Gannon, the more emotionally attuned of the two, and Wyatt, who is fascinated by science, are both home-schooled. Children of a flight attendant (Wheeler), the brothers have grown up believing that travel and “exploration” are the best ways to learn. Gannon and Wyatt describe their trip to Botswana in alternating journal entries that are simple and honest and reveal their enthusiasm, curiosity, broadening worldviews and occasional brotherly quibbles. The boys have a variety of adventures, some life-threatening. They meet the residents of a desert village and rethink their own water consumption, encounter an angry white rhino protecting her young, and Wyatt contracts a dangerously high fever while in the bush. The boys’ most harrowing adventure takes them into the wild with a pair of African tour guides to heal a mother lioness wounded by poachers. A confrontation between the group and a poacher armed with a machine gun provides a tense climax. Other moments are much lighter, such as Wyatt’s memorable fight with a crocodile that turns out to be a log and Gannon’s brotherly teasing. Professional-quality photographs of animals, landscape and the small plane the family used for travel illustrate the text. The high-quality accompanying DVD shows video footage of a village, wildlife and the flesh and blood Gannon and Wyatt talking about their travels. A few back pages are left blank for the reader’s own travel notes.
Young, would-be adventurers or armchair travelers will enjoy exploring with these two straightforward, engaging personalities—and will learn a lot in the process.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1936284-00-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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