I have been a huge fan of Katherine Rundell ever since I curled up with ROOFTOPPERS on a sunny afternoon in England. And though this was very different, it... might actually be my favorite of her works to date.

The world of the Amazon is brought into stark, poetic clarity--as one always expects from a book by Rundell. I had nearly forgotten how, as a kid, I was completely fascinated by the Amazon, completely engrossed in learning about survival in that part of the world. But this book reawoke all that wonder and fear and excitement. I just loved it.

This is a fabulous read for any kid (or adult) who has contemplated becoming an explorer but lacked the luck of being thrust in the middle of an adventure. The characters shine on the page, each of them fiercely real.

Thank you, Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the free ARC. I can't wait to buy my own and put it on my shelf!

Fred, Con, Lily, and Max are traveling by plane to England when their plane crashes. The pilot has died and they are left alone to survive in the jungle and find their way home. There is lots of adventure as the children problem solve and figure out ways to eat and stay safe. In order to survive the children must also work together and, even though very different from each other, they become friends. This book about four brave children is for those readers who like adventure and stories of survival.

Not to be confused with the book I reviewed yesterday...

4 kids are on a plane trip above the Amazon Jungle when something goes terribly wrong and the plane crashes. Of the whole book the beginning was my least favorite - I felt it was unclear where they were all going (some was revealed later) and what actually happened to the pilot (Hatchet flashbacks)?

Once in the jungle the 4 kids must learn to survive - find food, find water, maybe try to get to the city by building a raft. There is a lot of bickering and differences of opinion. Once they find a map though the book gets more interesting. They travel to an x on the map and find a hidden city and "the explorer" who wants nothing to do with them and demands that the whole place be kept a secret.

In time the children and the explorer come to understand each other and the kids realize why the city must remain a secret. But when one of the kids is seriously bitten by bullet ants the kids must get to the city as soon as possible - leaving the explorer behind.

Overall, I liked the book but there were a few things at the beginning that kept me from getting invested right away.

E ARc from Netgalley.com

Four children flying back to England in a vague post WWII period crash in the Amazon when their pilot has a fatal medical issue. From there, Fred, Con, Lila, and her five year old brother Max have to try to make it to get help in Manaus, Brazil. Along the way, they find clues in small tins, try to survive on the water and food they find, and adopt a baby sloth. Eventually, they find another human, but he is an irritable man who is still grieving over his lostv wife and child, and barely helps them. When young Max becomes gravely ill, he finally decides to help the children by showing Fred how to fly a plane he has stored.
Strengths: This had a lot of good details about the flora and fauna in the Amazon, and the steps one might need to take in order to survive there. There's a decent amount of introspection about the life to which the children will return, and the visit with the Explorer has its moments of intrigue.
Weaknesses: By page 100, I was ready to cook Max for supper, and by page 200, I was ready for everyone to perish in the wilderness, including the Explorer. Rundell seems to write characters whom I personally dislike, for qualities other people seem to fine charming.
What I really think: Everyone else seems to think that this is So Much More Than an Ordinary Survival Story, but... meh. It was fine, but nothing spectacular.

This will appear on my blog closer to the publication date.

A Briskly Paced, Middle Grade, Amazon Adventure

Four kids stranded by a plane crash have to pull themselves together, figure out how to survive in the Amazon, and find some way home. I enjoyed the ride.

The book is aimed at a much younger readership than I expected. There's a touch of magical realism, a bit of "Survivor", a hint of "Lost City of Z", and it's a lot more "The Little Prince" than "Lord of the Flies". That's not a criticism, and I would actually encourage younger readers to consider this as an excellent and entertaining introduction to travel/adventure.

Our four heroes are never especially well developed. The main character, Fred, has led a sheltered life, but the hero-adventurer within is unleashed by the plane crash and he rises to the occasion. He is the strongest and clearly the most central character. The girl Con is squeamish and a bit spoiled/mean, but she grows up a good deal during the ordeal. The brother/sister team of Lila and Max is interesting, in that Lila is very solid and competent, but is tasked with mostly caretaking five year old Max. Max is almost there to be comic relief, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I sketched in these impressions of the characters mostly to emphasize the point that the book is for younger readers, and that these characters probably won't hold the interest of many older readers.

We follow the kids as they escape the crash, figure out where they are, build a raft, and head for what they hope will be civilization. There are very brief scenes that involve making a fire, building a shelter, looking for water and food, figuring out that there are things like piranha in the river, and so on. The pace is so brisk and the scenes are so brief that the adventure just flies by. Again, the idea seems to be to give the reader a sense of and a taste for adventure tales of this sort without losing the reader.

An interesting twist is that the kids ultimately meet up with "The Explorer" who remains a mysterious and troubled figure. Early on in the story Fred told the others the tale of Percy Fawcett and the lost city of "Z", and this part of the book seems to echo the Fawcett legend. While The Explorer is a romantic maniac who's part Heart of Darkness Kurtz, part Indiana Jones, and part lost soul, he brings welcome energy to the tale and indirectly challenges each of the kids to decide what kind of person they want to be. He nicely balances the kids and helps to ground the tale.

My bottom line is that I didn't read this as some sort of realistic adventure tale. It's a bit dreamier and soft for that. It struck me as more of a coming-of-age tale with a side of rainforest. For an ambitious young reader this could have real appeal.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)