Booktalk #1

The state of Maine is 90 percent forest--the highest percentage of any other state in the country. Twelve-year-old Sam Castine’s summer camp is tucked away in there somewhere, among the more than 12 million acres of wilderness in the north.

It’s been an unusually hot and dry summer, and now a wildfire is ripping through that wilderness. As Sam’s camp rushes to evacuate, he realizes his cellphone is still charging in his cabin and sneaks back to get it. Unfortunately, the fire is burning much closer and faster than anyone realized. Sam gets cut off from the buses, which leave without him. As fire rages around him, trees explode, and Sam chokes on the thick smoke. He stumbles into a shallow swamp, which provides temporary relief but drowns his phone. With no way to call for rescue, Sam goes over the survival skills his dad taught him and begins fighting his way through the forest in hopes of keeping ahead of the ravenous flames. An empty logging camp provides supplies and, most precious of all, an old Army jeep. Sam manages to get the Jeep moving! As he starts down the rough logging road, he comes across Delphy, a girl who’s been separated from her own summer camp and is in desperate need of help. Together, the two head off through the woods, hoping the wandering dirt road they’re on will lead to safety--and not deeper into the burning Maine wilderness.  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award, 2021)

Booktalk #2

When 12-year-old Sam’s summer camp evacuates to escape a wildfire, he makes a fateful decision to go back for his phone. Suddenly cut off from his camp by explosive flames, Sam is alone -and must run for his life. Fighting to survive, Sam teams up with a lost girl to try to beat the odds and outwit one of the deadliest fires ever. Fiction.  (Rhode Island Children's Book Award 2021)