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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic Grant, K. 2010 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
After a summer cooped up in his family's store selling bait, tackle, and soft drinks to tourists, fourteen-year-old Chase finally gets a chance to go on his first solo geocaching adventure.
Using his GPS in the foothills of the Arizona White Mountains, he uncovers the geocache'a small metal box'hidden deep in the woods in some undergrowth. Inside, with a few plastic army men and a log book, is a troubling message asking for help in a child's handwriting.
When Chase returns later, he finds another message in the geocache box, this time asking for food. He is curious'and worried'about the mysterious individuals leaving the messages. Before he can turn to the adults around him for help, Chase is pulled into a complex, dangerous drama and a chilling confrontation with an unstable father who will stop at nothing to hold on to his children.
Young readers will learn all about the high-tech adventure game of geocaching in Katy Grant's exciting novel that features heart-pounding action and surprising plot twists.
Author Notes
Katy Grant was born in Lewisburg, Tennessee. She has taught English classes at Arizona State University, Mesa Community College, and Rio Salado Community College. She is the author of Hide and Seek and Summer Camp Secrets Series.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-With his new GPS, 14-year-old Chase is eager to explore geocaching in the high foothills near his remote Arizona tourist town. Mountain biking to the site of a woodland geocache, he and his dog, Dexter, find a cryptic note that leads to an eventual encounter with two young, wary brothers. As Chase befriends the boys and learns of their hidden campsite and strange, reclusive father, he suspects this may be a case of parental kidnapping and searches the Internet for clues, successfully identifying the missing boys, then locating and contacting their hopeful mother. Chase's parents are divorced, yet amicable, and he feels loved both by his remarried mom and her husband, Rick, as well as by his dad, who lives in Phoenix. This family support affords Chase strength when he is knocked out and taken captive by the boys' suspicious father. But having told his family nothing about all his investigations, there is a coming-of-age lesson when Chase, relying on his own resources, narrowly escapes and must traverse the hazardous desert in the dark of night. Mystery and adventure propel this readable survival story that will hit the spot with Gary Paulsen's fans and may also entice reluctant readers.-Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
While geocaching in Arizona's White Mountains, fourteen-year-old Chase discovers, then befriends, two unkempt, frightened boys living at a campsite. Chase learns that their volatile father has kidnapped them; unfortunately, the teen's attempt to help goes awry. Despite pedestrian prose, the novel distinguishes itself through Chase's clever use of both modern technology and old-fashioned brainpower to get out of a dangerous situation. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
First-rate suspense with an original premise and an appealing theme support this story about a boy who stumbles upon two kidnapped children and endangers his own life in trying to help them. Fourteen-year-old Chase eagerly bicycles to find his first "geocache" with his new GPS unit in an Internet-based treasure-hunting game, but he finds a note in childish writing in the cache asking for help. Later, bringing food to the site, Chase meets two little boys who appear to be living with their father at a campsite. As he gets to know them, he increasingly feels that something just isn't right about their situation. When he learns they're abductees, however, he doesn't wait for assistance but rushes off to find them, only to become a kidnapping victim himself. Grant neatly weaves Chase's own family estrangements into his growing understanding of the depths of parental love and other relationships that will have meaning for young readers. Tension mounts throughout the story to keep it galloping along, and characterizations ring true. A good, solid adventure. (Mystery. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Chase enjoys geocaching as a break from all the hard work at the small Arizona mountain resort owned by his mom and stepdad, and he frequently takes off into the woods with his dog in a quest to discover containers hidden by other enthusiasts. On one trip, however, Chase encounters a pair of hungry, scruffy little boys, who are camped out with a mysterious man. Eventually, Chase learns that the man is the boys' father and that he kidnapped his sons from their home in Wisconsin months earlier. When one of the boys becomes seriously ill, Chase tries to help but ends up in serious danger. Grant creates a well-paced adventure novel that taps into the growing popularity of geocaching, and the story is deepened by her developed portrayal of Chase. Many young readers will recognize the delight that Chase takes from being alone in the high country, observing the wildlife, and exploring the rugged landscape. Try this with fans of Jim Arnosky's The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp (2009).--Morning, Todd Copyright 2010 Booklist