Turner, Tracey. Lost: in the Desert of Dread. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2014. 978-0-7787-0725-7. p 127. $28.99. Gr 7-9.
Remember how awesome choose your own adventure books were when you were in elementary school? Well, maybe you don’t, but now you can start making new memories with Tracey Turner’s series Lost. In Lost: in the Desert of Dread, you wake up disoriented and alone in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Luckily you do have some provisions that you have to use wisely along with using any prior knowledge you have about the desert. The book does provide facts about the Sahara Desert as well as basic survival facts to assist readers as they go. The last few pages of the book has a glossary of terms, facts about those who live in the Sahara Desert, real life survival stories of people lost in the desert and additional book titles and websites to go to for more information. I’m not going to tell you how well I fared in the desert, but I will say that this is a title I would suggest to a reluctant boy. We do have a few teachers who require students to read during downtime in class. These are action-packed, quick reads that will keep the students engaged. Nostalgia aside, these are great!
Adventure Laura Ward, Fox Chapel Area High School
Turner, Tracey. Lost: in the Jungle of Doom. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2014. 978-0-7787-0727-1. p 127. $28.99. Gr 7-9.
In Lost: in the Jungle of Doom, part of Tracey Turner’s choose your own plot series, you wake up alone in a remote part of the Amazon Rainforest jungle after a bumpy flight that was supposed to take you to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Columbia. Luckily, you have your trusty Swiss Army knife and a dented metal container you find amongst the wreckage. This is all that you have to use along with the prior knowledge you have about the jungle. Lost: in the Jungle of Doom provides facts about the Amazon Rainforest as well as basic survival facts to assist readers as they go. The last few pages of the book are a glossary of terms, facts about those who are native to the Amazon, information on why the rainforest is disappearing and additional book titles and websites to go to for more information. I’m not going to tell you how well I did this time, but I will say that this is a title I would suggest to a reluctant boy. We do have a few teachers who require students to read during downtime in class. These are action-packed, quick reads that will keep the students engaged. Nostalgia aside, these are great!
Adventure Laura Ward, Fox Chapel Area High School