Reef of Death - Hardcover

Zindel, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060247282 ISBN 13: 9780060247287

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1998

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old PC can't resist his uncle Cliff's frantic call and is soon aboard a plane to Australia. Within hours of arriving, PC realizes that his uncle has gotten himself into an even more bizarre predicament than usual, and that Cliff is counting on him to unravel the threads of a mystery linking: a missing scuba diver, presumed dead; Maruul, a beautiful Aboriginal girl suffering from amnesia; a strange map based on a legend of a sacred treasure; an erie, seemly deserted ship; and a huge, horrible creature that lurks in the depths beneath the reef. Trying to help the shaken young girl, PC and Cliff return to the reef where Maruul's brother vanished and take up the search for the Aboriginal treasure that will save the people of Maruul's tribe. But someone else is looking for the treasure too -- and when the two groups collide, a lethal game of hide-and-seek is played out beneath the deep and bloody water of the reef.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Zindel who won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Effects of Gamma Rays On Man-In-the-Moon Marigolds,once again draws upon his scientific background for Reef Of Death. His most recent books for Harper Collins include The Doom Stone and Loch, both Recommended books for the Reluctant YA Reader (ALA), and the tragicomic memoir The Pigman & Me, which School Library Journal said in a starred review "allows readers a glimpse of Zindel's youth, gives them insight into some of his fictional characters, and provides many examples of universal experiences that will make them laugh and cry." The Pigman & Me was both a 1993 ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a 1993 ALA Notable Children's Book.
Mr. Zindel lives in Montague, New Jersey.

Reviews

Grade 6-9?Set along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, this page-turning toothy-monster story is Zindel imitating Stine, a scary development. Two likable characters are gruesomely devoured by page 50, and too many others die before the pyrotechnic climax to keep an accurate count. Stereotypes abound. The evil Dr. Ecenbarger, a German scientist, is running an illegal undersea operation as a front for her real joy in life?feeding people who bother her to the various sea creatures she captures for that purpose. Maruul, a partial amnesiac who is described as having "big eyes that make you want to do things for her" is joined by PC McPhee, our hero, and Wally, a respected elder from Maruul's Aboriginal village who just happens to know quite a bit about scuba diving, personal computers, and the myths of his people. He sometimes speaks the queen's English?and then reverts to pidgin. It might be fun to read to see how many impossibilities and inconsistencies can be found, but this story is best read as pure fantasy, from PC's parents letting him rush across the Pacific to meet his "crazy uncle" (one of the first to become fish food) to the "kids win" ending, as promised in the dedication. Cartoonlike and silly.?Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 7^-12. According to a cryptic legend, the secret that will save the people of a small Aboriginal village lies at the bottom of an Australian reef inhabited by a monstrous creature. Two deadly attacks unite a beautiful Aboriginal girl and a resourceful American boy, who quickly discover that the monster is not their biggest obstacle: a sadistic geologist with torture chambers in her freighter is determined to steal the valuable secret before the teenagers reach it. Few YA writers can spin a tale of terror with the deftness and macabre humor of Zindel. The two initial monster attacks expertly grab the reader's attention and set the brisk pace of a plot that presses forward to a most satisfying conclusion. Best of all, with her spiked heels, dingo-hide-clad henchmen, and giant crabs that literally tear the faces off her torture victims, Dr. Ecanbarger is the most delectable villain since Cruella DeVil. Roger Leslie

Edition details

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060247282
• ISBN 13: 9780060247287
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 177