The Explorer

“Fans of survival stories like Hatchet and My Side of the Moutain are an ideal audience for this fast-paced escapade with a lush and captivating setting.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Four kids stranded in the Amazon by a plane crash must figure out how to survive in this exciting middle grade “tropical action-filled adventure with heart” (Kirkus Reviews) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell.

When a small plane bound for England from Manaus, Brazil, crashes in the Amazon rainforest, its four young passengers are stranded. Fred welcomes the opportunity to prove himself capable of surviving, like the explorers he admires, but his companions Constantia and Lila are terrified—and Lila’s five-year-old brother, Max, is especially vulnerable to the dangers around them.

The small group works together out of necessity, but it’s far from easy as they encounter predators like piranhas and fight hunger by foraging for edible fruits and even bugs. But when Fred finds an old map, he and his companions have a direction at last—and renewed hope. On a handmade raft, they follow a river to the destination marked on the map…and find more than they could have ever imagined.

Katherine Rundell is the author of Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms (a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner), The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, The Good Thieves, The Zebra’s Great Escape, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Impossible Creatures and its sequels. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She begins each day with a cartwheel and believes that reading is almost exactly the same as cartwheeling: it turns the world upside down and leaves you breathless. In her spare time, she enjoys walking on tightropes and trespassing on the rooftops of Oxford colleges.