I am going to tell you about a book I read that will make you want to read it too.  It is about a kayak adventure that takes place in Alaska.  Cody and her cousin Derek are in Alaska visiting her family and they decide to take off on a two-day kayak trip.  The big problem is that they don’t tell anyone where they are going, and no one even will miss them for a couple of days. So when they get into trouble, no one comes to help them because they aren’t even missed.  They run into all sorts of problems, but somehow deal with each situation as it comes up.

 They should have prepared a little better for their trip by taking more food and supplies.  But of course they didn’t expect to be gone longer than a couple of days.  They were not very well prepared and almost ended up starving and freezing.  I became really uneasy about their safety because it seems like a bear or something awful could jump out and get them anytime.  And of course their trip would last longer than they expected, which meant they weren’t ready for any of the challenges they faced.

 They are able to start a fire the first night to cook some fish for dinner and the fire also kept them warm.  They caught the fish with hooks made from some nails they had.  But started their journey the next day by floating the kayaks around a huge glacier.  The tide rose by the afternoon and they couldn’t get back the same way.  So for another night they were stranded and not sure if they could get back the way they came.

 At one point, they see another person but are afraid to get too close.  They believe this person is a poacher who kills beavers.  They are pretty sure that it isn’t legal to kill beavers, so they are worried that this man may be dangerous.  They nicknamed him the "wild man" because he looked crazy.  But actually this man turned out to save them by leaving food around for them to find.  He probably knew that they wouldn’t be able to find much food and would starve.  They ate all their food and some of it was in the kayak that floated out to sea one night when they were sleeping.  He would bring berries for them to share.  They were so grateful for this and didn’t really care who provided it because they were so hungry.

 I know they expected a helicopter to rescue them because one of them actually left a message, but the other one found it and tossed it to be funny.  So Cody keeps thinking they will be rescued and Derek knows they won’t because he took the note.

 One day, poor Cody sunburned her eyes from the bright sun because she lost her sunglasses.  She had to keep them covered with a patch and make sure they stayed closed until they healed.  That was very painful and one of those things you wouldn’t expect to happen on a short adventure.  But her sunglasses were in the kayak that was swept away out to sea, along with most of their other belongings.

 Derek and Cody were starting to go crazy and just when they felt that no one would ever find them, they finally heard a helicopter in the distance.

 I like this book because I enjoy reading about a great adventure.  It would be fun to go on a kayak trip with a friend, but I wouldn’t like the cold weather.  Lots of kids my age would enjoy reading this book because it is a fun story about two kids on a cool adventure.
 

Kirk Elberg
Mr. Coward’s English Class
Period 5
March 4, 2003