Lostman's River
Grade 5-8-In 1906, the destruction of the Florida everglades was just beginning, and DeFelice has used this historical setting to give perspective to the troubling ecological situations that are of concern today. Hiding from the New York law for five years in the Florida swamps, Tyler and his parents have survived through strength and love. The respect that they, and the Seminole Indians who live nearby, have for the plants and animals that share their environment contrasts starkly with those who venture into the Everglades for profit. The family is cautious and distrustful of strangers, but when a naturalist who wants to document the flora and fauna appears, they decide to trust him, and the boy is hired out as his guide. The first day out, he is horrified to discover that Mr. Strawbridge plans to kill the birds he finds rather than photograph them, and even more disturbed at his own ability to break a friend's trust and lead the man to a hidden rookery. On the second day, the scientist is coldly murdered by plume hunters, and Tyler must rely on his instincts to survive. The dark and forbidding cover will attract even reluctant readers to this story, but the sense of danger is not sustained, for Tyler is never discovered by the killers, or ever very far from home. The book will appeal more to "green kids" than to those looking for adventure. They'll be pulled in not by tension but by the authentic atmosphere, thick with wild creatures and plants, and the desperate cries of hundreds of orphaned baby birds that will ring in their ears as a reminder of what humans are capable of doing in the name of progress.Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library SystemCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.