RIVER DANGER

A canoe trip for two brothers becomes a race for survival in this latest novel from Dygard (Running Wild, 1996, etc.). Eric, 18, is none too pleased when his father asks him to help his brother Robbie, 11, earn a scouting award for paddling down the Buffalo River. But when Eric stumbles across a “chop shop” of stolen automobiles, he’s taken hostage and left with only the hope that his younger brother will come through and rescue him. Middle graders will find much to like in Robbie, an honestly rendered, annoying, anxious, and eager-to-please pre-teen. While Dygard weaves in plenty of information about canoeing and camping, it’s the common sense and quick thinking Robbie exhibits—walking, at night, to a nearby highway to get help without giving in to panic—that readers will remember. The car thieves radiate enough menace to make Eric’s peril real in this compelling story of bravery and family bonds. (Fiction. 11-13)