The Big Wander - Hardcover

Hobbs, Will

3.61

190 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689317670 ISBN 13: 9780689317675

Publisher: Atheneum, 1992

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During the summer of 1962, fourteen-year-old Clay Lancaster and his brother Mike set out to explore the West and search for their missing uncle, camping out in the desert, living among Navajos, falling in love, and rescuing their uncle, along the way.

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About the Author:

Will Hobbs is the award-winning author of many popular adventure stories for young readers, including Bearstone and Beardance. His picture book, Beardream, illustrated by Jill Kastner, is a companion to these novels. Seven of his novels have been chosen by the American Library Association as Best Books for Young Adults. A graduate of Stanford University and former language arts teacher, he lives in Durango, Colorado, with his wife, Jean. Longtime backpackers and river runners, they have spent many years exploring the mountain and canyon settings of Will's stories.
To learn more about the author and his books, visit Will's Web site at www.WillHobbsAuthor.com.

From Publishers Weekly:

Set in 1962, this good-natured chronicle of a boy's summer-long search for his uncle is jam-packed with action and a heap of fortunate coincidences. After driving around the Southwest with his older brother Mike, Clay, 14, finds himself a job at a Monument Valley trading post. When a colorful prospector makes off with Mike's truck, leaving in exchange his trusty burro, Pal, Mike hightails it home. Clay, however, remains, and is duly rewarded with a snippet of news about his uncle. Encouraged, Clay packs up Pal and heads out; he happens upon the very family of Navajos that had befriended his uncle. The next stop is Utah, where Clay plunges headlong into his first romance, a jailbreak,stet comma and a noble scheme to liberate a herd of mustangs destined for the slaughterhouse. Hobbs's evident desire to educate his readers often leads to didactic dialogue: "You know, there's only about twenty thousand mustangs left in the whole country. The lead mare's drinking now, then the next in rank and so on. If the stallion tries to drink before all the rest are finished, the mares will run him off." Despite a few ungainly moments, this novel has the kind of charm that just seems to come naturally when a likable kid is put into some gorgeous countryside with a bunch of wild horses. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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