Rundell, Katherine.
EXPLORER
New York ; Simon & Schuster, 2017
IL 3-6, RL 4..6
ISBN 978-1-48141-945-1

In the 1920s, the Amazon jungle was still a wild, mysterious place and explorers searching for golden cities were hailed as heroes and their adventures inspired awe. When, in the very first chapter, a plane crashes in that jungle, four children, each with distinct and often conflicting personalities, are thrust together for survival. There’s Fred, a British boy with a fondness for reading about explorers; Lila and her five-year-old brother Max the Portuguese children of scientists; and Con, a hardened girl with secrets. Danger lurks at every turn—caiman, piranhas, bees, lack of food, just to name a few—and the children are forced to get along and work together. Things take a mysterious turn as they discover evidence of a human presence in the jungle. What they eventually find will have the power to either kill them or save them. Yes, it’s gross and real—burns and snot and mud-caked faces and tears and nightmares—but you won’t stop turning the pages. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face nominee, 2018-2019)