Saturday, January 22, 2011

Book Review- Lost on Spirit River

By Tommy Batchelor
Published by Mirror Publishing
Released on November 8th, 2010
Source- Tommy Batchelor (for the Mundie Moms blog tour)
4 Stars- It's A Great Read

Thirteen-year-old Tony's parents are in the middle of divorce, his mother sends him to his Grandpa's along the banks of the Flint River in Southwestern Georgia. With his younger cousin Kathryn, they set out to look for a Christmas tree for the holidays, along with Grandpa's aging beagle, Sally. The three become lost in a snowstorm, which has not hit Georgia in three hundred years. Finding shelter in a hidden cave, stumbling upon Native American art. Now the adventure begins...(quoted from Goodreads).

Tommy Batchelor did a splendid job at mixing together Native American lore, adventure and self discovery, set in the beautiful outdoors of Georgia in his story Lost on Spirit River, the first book in his new series.

Lost on Spirit River follows Tony and his cousin Kathryn as they go in search of the right Christmas tree in the woods behind their Grandfather's home. A freak snow storm strands them and they find themselves in a cave full of Native American history. It's the history of their ancestors, the Upper Creek Indians. Lucky for them two of their ancient ancestor's spirits are there to protect them from the darker shadows who want to harm them.

I completely fell in love with the setting and the Native American lore. Tommy and Kathryn were fun characters to get to know, and I liked seeing how much Tommy changed through the course of this fun read. Tommy puts on a tough guy act, but in the course of being guided by the spirit his Native American ancestors, he discovers the warrior within himself, which causes him to change.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series. I think Lost on Spirit River is an appealing read for tween readers ages 8-12 and would be a perfect book to add to any middle school classroom. The story is one that has adventure, history, lore and will leave your awaiting the next book in this series.
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~