Maze

Maze
by
Will Hobbs
book on compact disc
Narrated by Ed Sala
children/young adult adventure fiction

An orphaned boy has troubles with foster parents and the group homes he has been in. He runs away from a detention facility and ends up in the middle of a desert area in the western U. S. There he befriends a biologist who is monitoring and nursing some California condors that have been released into the wild. An unlikely friendship forms. Of course, there have to be some bad guys, so there are two arms smugglers who want to use this desert wasteland as their storage facility and don't want any pesky kids or condors to ruin it for them. There is also some hanggliding.
Overall, it is a good adventure story. Ed Sala's voice lends mature, full narration.

Three Cups of Deceit

Three Cups of Deceit
by
Jon Krakauer
adult nonfiction

Krakauer is one of my favorite adventure authors (up there with Will Hobbs, Gary Paulsen and Jack London). When I read "Three Cups of Tea" I thought of his writing. In this slim book (75 pages) Krakauer refutes the claims by Greg Mortenson that he was saved from death by Sherpas, that he build a number of schools, and more.
Although Krakauer acknowledges that Mortenson did some of the things he said, through interviews with the same people that Mortenon quoted and through investigative reporting, Krakauer tells (in the words of Paul Harvey) "the rest of the story".
Mortenson exaggerated or completely fabricated events to make his adventures sound more courageous and newsworthy. He also used money from his non-profit organization in ways that could be criticized by his donors. He ran (and continues to run) the Central Asian Institute as an erratic dictator. Maybe he has spent too much time around leaders who act badly.
That being said, both Mortenson and Krakauer write compelling works. We may have to re-classify Mortenson's as fiction, rather than nonfiction.

Clockwork Three

Clockwork Three
by Matthew Kirby
unabridged book on compact disc
ages 9-12

This is a book that reads like a fantasy book, but really doesn't have anything magical or mystical happen in it. I kept wondering when the outrageous science fiction/fantasy stuff would happen, but the "what-if" part of it was very realistic. I guess if I had to categorize this I would say it is alternative history since the events that take place did not actually happen. Or did they? I suppose they could have. This book is set in mid 1800's Boston. It features some characters with extraordinary talents in music and science and herblore and larger than life people, such as a mysterious medium and a huge Russian bodyguard.
This book follows three down and out young people (ages 11-13). Frederick, Hannah, and Giuseppe are all in need of miracles.
Frederick is an apprentice clockmaker who wants to make the best automaton ever. He is also looking for his mother who gave him up to an orphanage. He fears that he
will never make master status with out this.
Hannah is the breadwinner for her family after her father is disabled by a stroke. It would take a miracle of medicine or faith to get him back on his feet.
Giuseppe is an violin-playing orphan boy from Italy who is sold into indentured servitude to a harsh master who runs a gang of street buskers. His tale is something straight out of a Dickens' novel.
As the plot develops these three young people meet and have adventures.
Some of the story dragged, such as the scene describing the opera in painstaking detail, but by the end of the story I did not want to stop the CD and needed to know what would happen next. The book and audio would probably have benefited from some condensing to leave just "the good parts version" (to quote the grandfather from the "Princess Bride").
I found the most fascinating part of this audiobook to be the interview with the author afterward. His character of Giuseppe was based on a true story that was published in the New York Times about orphan buskers. Even if someone doesn't want to listen to this entire book, it is worth listening to the interview in the end.

25 Essential Books for the Well-Read Explorer

http://outsideonline.com/outside/features/200301/200301_adventure_canon_2.html

For some reason I only found 16-25 on this website and had to look at another website for the rest of the list. Thank you to the Bangor Public Library for reposting the list.

http://www.bpl.lib.me.us/reference/booklistpdf/Explorer.pdf


Outside Magazine January 2003
I haven't read very many of these, but I do like an occasional adventure story, so I'll have to make room in my reading schedule for some of these.

25. OLD GLORY Jonathan Raban (1981)
24. A WALK IN THE WOODS Bill Bryson (1998) I have read this one. This is great for the not-so-fit explorer.
23. ALIVE Piers Paul Read (1974) I remember many of my classmates reading this one and I could not bring myself to read it. It sounded (and sounds) too creepy.
23. THE PERFECT STORM Sebastian Junger (1997). This is an excellent book and movie. My library co-worker, Shelley, would recommend this to every patron who asked for a good book.
22. MY JOURNEY TO LHASA Alexandra David-Neel (1927).
21. KON-TIKI Thor Heyerdahl (1950).
20. GREAT PLAINS Ian Frazier (1989)
19. YOUNG MEN AND FIRE Norman Maclean (1992)
18. RUNNING THE AMAZON Joe Kane (1989)
17. THE LONG WAY Bernard Moitessier (1971)
16. TRACKS Robyn Davidson (1980)
15. SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH Eric Newby
14. ARCTIC DREAMS Barry Lopez
13. IN PATAGONIA Bruce Chatwin
12. MOUNTAINS OF MY LIFE Walter Bonatti
11. TOUCHING THE VOID Joe Simpson
10. ARABIAN SANDS Wilfred Thesiger
9. COMING INTO THE COUNTRY John McPhee
8. INTO THE WILD. Jon Krakauer. I think I have read this 3 times now. I should probably re-read it once a decade.
7. SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Capt. Joshua Slocum
6. ENDURANCE F. A. Worsely
5. DESERT SOLITAIRE Edward Abbey
4. SNOW LEOPARD Peter Matthiessen
3. WEST WITH THE NIGHT Beryl Markham
2. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD Ashley Cherry-Garrard
1. WIND, SAND, AND STARS Antoine de Saint-Exupery

That reminds me, I would like to read the book by the Cleveland doctor who got breast cancer while in Antarctica.
ICEBOUND by Dr. Jerri Nielson Fitzgerald

Magic Tree House # 1: Dinosaurs before Dark

Magic Tree House # 1: Dinosaurs before Dark
by
Mary Pope Osborne
and
Sal Murdocca
Reading level - 2nd grade

Jack and Annie climb into a tree house, read some books, then wish they were experiencing what one of the books is about. They get their wish! They are in the land of dinosaurs. They see Mama dinosaurs with eggs, flying dinosaurs, and more. Chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex, they decide it is time to go home! This adventure story has wide appeal and is the start of the popular series. The last time I checked there were 28 books in this series so far. I guess it is on to book #2 now - The Knight at Dawn.
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/magictreehouse/

Adventures of Max and Pinky: Best Buds

Adventures of Max and Pinky: Best Buds
by
Maxwell Eaton, III
children's fiction
ages 3-7
This is a cartoon book about a boy (Max) and his best friend, a pig (Pinky). I think that Pinky is supposed to be Max's stuffed animal that he uses for pretending (like Christopher Robin and Pooh) but I am not certain. Max is a bald round-headed kid that looks a bit like Charlie Brown. Whatever the author's intentions, this book exhibits light-hearted slapstick little-kid humor.
In the front of the book it says "the illustrations in this book were created using black pen-and-ink with digital coloring". I have seen other books illustrated this way, but none explained it like this one did.
This is not necessarily an educational book, but the author does do things like use color words (red barn, deep blue pond) and repetition (here, there, up, down). English teachers out there should note that he uses the time-honored device of using the same phrase at the beginning and end of the book for opening and closure.
I will definitely be reading more Max and Pinky books because they were fun for me and my 5 and 6 year old audience. I would not be surprised if Nickelodeon, PBS, Dic, or another company picked this up for a children's television series.

Keep Climbing Girls

Keep Climbing Girls
by
Beah E. Richards and R. Gregory Christie
labelled as children's fiction ages 4-8 BUT I DISAGREE.

Sometimes it is a good idea to take a poem and make it into a children's book. This has been done a number of times with success. This time it was NOT successful. This may be a beloved poem from 1951, but the problem with making it into a children's book is that it uses a lot of words that children don't know.
My objections:

First of all, it starts with a really long introduction written for adults. That was my first hint that this might not be a good book for children.

Second of all, it uses these words: profound, confident, ambition, contrition, supposition, consternation, diplomacy, and disdain. My audience was confused. If we had just looked at the pictures and not read the text we probably would have been fine.

Third of all (this is when the person assisting me stopped reading it to the children) an adult threatens to kill a child. We thought we read this wrong and should change the wording, but no. The woman does threaten to kill a child.

If a college professor, or liberated teenager wants to have this book on their shelf, they should feel free, but it really isn't for children.

Apparently School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist all failed to notice these three points when they gave it rave reviews, focusing instead on the positive feminist and civil rights message.

Secret of the Three Treasures

Secret of the Three Treasures
by
Janni Lee Simner
Children's Fiction, ages 7-10.

The main character, Tierney West, takes her place in the echelon of perky heroines. She is always ready for adventure, like Laura Ingalls, the Baudelaire children, Lucky (from Higher Power of Lucky), or Nancy Drew. Another way to look at it is that she has ADHD, but let's be kind and say she is an adventurer.
Tierney wants to be like her father - a writer and adventurer, but she is stuck at home with her mother. What is a girl to do? Look for adventure! This is a quick and easy read with lots of action.
I think I saw this on a list of books to give your grandchildren if you are into genealogy and history. Tierney finds out about her ancestors' past while she is adventuring.