Cryptid Hunters - Hardcover

Smith, Roland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786851619 ISBN 13: 9780786851614

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2004

Synopsis

In this daring cryptozoology adventure, will two teens be able to prove the existence of creatures long thought to be made-up?
 
After their parents are lost in an accident, thirteen-year old twins Grace and Marty are whisked away to live with their Uncle Wolfe—an uncle that they didn't even know they had. The intimidating Uncle Wolfe is an anthropologist who has dedicated his life to finding cryptids, mysterious creatures whose existence has never been proven.
 
Just as the twins and their uncle are getting to know one another, Wolfe finds out that his nemesis, Dr. Blackwood, is headed to a Congolese jungle to poach a dinosaur and her clutch. Wolfe has to mobilize his team immediately if he wants to beat Blackwood to the jungle. And his team does not include the twins.
 
But Grace and Marty aren’t easily left behind. With breakneck daring, they literally drop into the Congo. Through a series of perilous adventures, they uncover long-buried secrets about their own identities and that of their uncle. Now the twins must play a high-stakes game, where the prize is a dinosaur egg, and the penalty is death.

About this title

About the Author

Roland Smith is a former Zoo Curator and Research Biologist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He has published more than twenty novels for children and young adults, including Peak, Zach’s Lie, and Cryptid Hunters. He and his wife, Marie, who is also an author, live on a small farm near Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

Grade 5-8–When their parents disappear, twins Marty and Grace, 13, are taken in by their Uncle Travis, who searches the world for supposedly mythical creatures. After a parachute fall from an airplane, the kids find themselves in the middle of the Congo, where a surviving dinosaur may still exist. While their conservationist uncle tries to rescue the children, an evil cryptid hunter who kills species rather than saving them pursues the creature. Marty and Grace each have distinct, if not terribly complex personalities, and their adventures are quite absorbing. The first part of the story moves fairly slowly as the characters and the concept of cryptozoology are introduced. Once the twins hit the jungle, though, things get exciting. Along with the atmospheric setting, narrow escapes, and ruthless villains, a couple of neat personal revelations are woven into the tale, affecting nearly everybody involved. Both kids show courage and ingenuity as they try to survive the wild and avoid being captured. Marty's photographic memory provides a vehicle for presenting many facts about the environment without detracting from the tale. Grace is more introverted as she conquers her fears and discovers a life-changing revelation about her past. With the intriguing plot and plenty of well-paced action, this novel has fine booktalk potential and makes a good choice for adventure fans.–Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
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Gr. 5-8. When twins Marty and Grace O'Hara discover that their adventurous parents have gone missing, they leave their Swiss boarding school and join their mysterious uncle, Travis Wolfe, on his island in Washington State. They soon learn that their uncle is one of the world's foremost authorities on cryptids (think Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster). Wolfe is scheduled to look for dinosaurs in the African jungle, and he plans to leave Marty and Grace in Europe before the expedition starts. Things go awry, however, when an accident plunges Marty and Grace into the middle of the Congolese jungle. Soon the henchmen of the evil Noah Blackwood are pursuing the twins. The action is nonstop in this well-paced jungle adventure, and Smith adds a deeper layer in scenes of Marty and Grace discovering truths about their complicated family relationships. Several loose ends suggest more cryptid-recovery expeditions to come. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786851619
• ISBN 13: 9780786851614
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352