Leopard Adventure (Willard Price) by Anthony
McGowan
Published September 2012 Puffin
From the publisher:
The first authorized Willard Price book by award-winning
author Anthony McGowan.
Deep in the remote forests ofSiberia , a
mother Amur leopard, one of the rarest big cats in the world, senses danger.
Something faster than any human and deadlier than any tiger.
Meanwhile Amazon Hunt, aged twelve, is recruited fromEngland by Tracks in America , ready to take off at a
moment's notice to rescue wild animals under threat - no matter how great the
danger. Now Amazon and her
thirteen-year-old cousin Frazer must brave the Russian wilderness to save the
Amur leopard, before a blazing forest fire wipes out the race - for good . . .
Deep in the remote forests of
Meanwhile Amazon Hunt, aged twelve, is recruited from
On the front cover of this book it says, Inspired by the
Willard Price Adventures, and the blurb says that this is the first authorized
Willard Price book. As I started reading
I realised that there is quite a big link between this and the Willard Price
books. The two main characters in this
book are Amazon and her cousin Frazer, and guess what? Amazon’s Dad is Roger
Hunter, and Frazer’s Dad is Hal Hunter, the two boys that featured in the
Willard Price books, now adults and working in their fathers footsteps.
I have mentioned more than once this year about the vast
number of animal books that are being released, and here’s another one. I would have to say that this is probably one
of the best animal stories I have read this year. It has the bonus of a boy and a girl as the two main characters, so it will be equally appealing to boys and girls.
There is action and drama from the first few pages, when
Amazon is scaling the wall of her
boarding school, trying to get in without being seen, a dramatic jump and a
crumbling window ledge make the reader think it may all be over before the book
gets going.
Then the story really begins, a visit from a cousin she
has never met (Frazer), and being told she is heading to the US to her
Uncle’s animal sanctuary/ranch. That is
exciting enough, as they fly first class, but there’s more news, Amazon must then travel with Frazer to the Sikhote-Alin mountain region in the far east of Russia . There job will be to save an Amur leopard and
her two cubs who are believed to be in
that area, and their safety is being threatened by a forest fire.
There’s wilderness, forest fires, huge brown bears and
one particular forest dweller that wants the leopard just as much as Amazon and
the team…a tiger. What I liked about his
book is that the facts are woven into the story, and so I didn't feel like I was being beaten over the head with facts. There are chapters from the tigers' point of
view which I loved, we see how the tiger feels after an encounter with humans,
how it attacks and kills different animals in the forest, and we follow its
journey to find the leopards.
It is non stop action, and I defy anyone who reads this
book to be able to put it down once they start…it’s just that kind of
book. There’s even a sneak peek and a
chapter sample of the next book Shark Adventure.
Who will like this
book: Boys and girls age 9+
Read it if you like: the Willard Price books
Read it if you like: the Willard Price books
No comments:
Post a Comment