Friday, August 15, 2014

Book Review: Lost in the River of Grass



Title: Lost in the River of Grass
Publisher: Coralrhoda Books
Author: Rorby, Ginny
ISBN: 9780761356851
Date Published: February 9th, 2011
Lexile: 750
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Adventure
Awards: None
Themes: Friendship, team work, survival, confidence
Plot Summary
Two teenagers get lost in the Everglades. Sarah and Andy must help one another escape the Everglades through life-threatening conditions. 
Review
This story began with a whiny character. The whining continues through out the story, but it becomes understandable given the circumstances. I wasn't thrilled with Sarah's lack of self-preservation. She cared more about the survival of a duckling than of she and her companion. There are scattered errors (such as typos) throughout the book, which made me curious of how professional the publisher is.
Andy's character made this book worthwhile. He cared about Sarah and surviving. I liked the way he pushed through and encouraged Sarah through trial after trial. He is the ultimate pep-talker.
Sarah gets her moment of self-confidence when helping Andy in a dangerous situation. 

There are some surprises in character development in the story. I didn't pick up on the fact that Sarah is black until toward the end. I imagined Sarah as a white goth with dark hair, in contrast to the "Barbies," through out most of the book. I also thought that the author threw the tidbit about Sarah being a great swimmer in a random place. I suppose she was trying to make Sarah's swimming moment more believable. I don't remember picking up on her swimming scholarship until later in the book. Perhaps the scholarship and skin color were mentioned in the beginning and I zoned out while reading those parts?

Overall the book was descent. The story was better than many stories I've read recently. I would have recommended the book be edited once or twice more--by a professional editor--before publication.
My rating for this book is 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Warning: The main character cries a lot.

 --This is one of the series of reviews I did for my YA class--

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