It’s been about 3 weeks since I last posted. Part of that was due to the school year wrapping up. The other part was that I was dragginnnnnnng through this book. Someone out there liked it. Actually a few people had to because it made its way through the first selection of Truman nominees (usually 50+ books) to the smaller pre-list (around 20ish books), and finally to the last 12 books that officially get presented to students as the Truman Nominees. It’s no surprise to me that this book did not make it to the students’ top choices.
What I liked
- There was a dog in the story.
What I didn’t like
- Main character was whiny and selfish.
- Parents abandoned kid while he was in a hospital after a car accident.
- Kid runs away.
- People randomly showing up to save the day.
- Kid is able to stay on the trail without getting caught even though he left a note that he was leaving, and it was pretty obvious that at least 2 people would have known where to look.
- BORING. The first part of the book just dragged.
If you have a student or son/daughter that is interested in camping and/or hiking, they MAY enjoy this book. I would say 4th-6th grade readers are the intended audience even though this was a middle school nominee. I can’t think of any of my 8th graders who would have picked up this book and actually finished it.
Michelle Reads & Writes 