Review by Booklist Review
Due to a tragic fire that took the lives of her parents, Addy is obsessed with creating escape maps and mazes. To help Addy continue to heal, her Grandma Bibi enrolls her at Wilderness Adventures, a summer camp in California where city kids can experience camping, hiking, and rock climbing. Addy is reluctant initially but quickly makes friends with campers Jay and Nessa (all three are Black). Recognizing a kindred spirit, the camp owner takes Addy under his wing and helps nurture her budding love of wilderness while they hike trails every morning before sunrise. When a massive forest fire engulfs Eagle's Ridge during the group's final camping trip, Addy must confront her past and rely on her friends to survive. People of color have not historically featured in wilderness stories, which makes this title refreshing, especially in light of national conversations around racial equity in outdoor spaces. A strong read-alike for Gary Paulsen fans or older kids who have graduated from the I Survived series but are still seeking a thrilling survival story.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Inspired by real events, Parker Rhodes (Black Brother, Black Brother) makes her entrée into climate fiction with the story of narrator Adaugo (Addy), a Black 15-year-old from the Bronx. Living with an overwhelming fear of fire after losing her parents to one at the age of four, Addy copes by constantly drawing maps and plotting escape routes in case of emergency. When Addy's Nigerian Grandma Bibi signs her up for Wilderness Adventures in California, Addy expects to be the odd one out; instead, though, she makes friends and falls in love with nature. But a wildfire soon endangers the woods and the people she has come to cherish, and Addy must count on her maps and newfound survival skills to save everyone she can. Addy's character-driven narrative offers a broad picture of her motivations--including a post-traumatic mindset that's focused on survival--yet leaves little room for the explicit development of relationships on which the story's emotional heft eventually relies. If the negative impact of human activity on the environment sometimes dominates the story, Parker Rhodes believably explores one Black city girl's discovery of the wilderness around her. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8--12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Sept.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4--8--Plagued by memories of the fire that killed her parents years ago, Addy always maps her city surroundings. But a chance to experience a wilderness camp leads Addy away from her comfort zone, along with five other kids, and across the country to Paradise Ranch. Out in the California forest, Addy has the opportunity to learn essential wilderness skills. However, her worst nightmare occurs when a deadly forest fire leaves Addy and her friends fighting for their lives in the woods. Now it's up to Addy to take all that she's learned at camp to survive. Rhodes delivers another gripping story about loss, resilience, and healing. Addy's anxiety over her parents' deaths is handled beautifully through her transition from mapper of escape routes to proper wilderness cartographer. Addy's restorative journey is realistically bumpy as she fights to accept that she can't live her life waiting for the worst to happen; rather, she can act wisely, embracing hope. While the environmental message may seem heavy-handed at first, it plays its part well by the end, aiding the final note that humans impact the Earth greatly and need to take this responsibility seriously. Addy and the five other city kids are Black. Camp owner Leo and the two counselors are cued white. An afterword provides the historical inspiration for the story. VERDICT Perfect for reluctant readers and fans of Dusti Bowling's The Canyon's Edge, this is a tale of survival and hope that doesn't disappoint.--Emily Walker, Lisle Lib. Dist., IL
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Review by Horn Book Review
Having lost both parents to an apartment fire when she was little, Addy steers clear of fire as much as possible, and spends much of her time making maps of her Bronx neighborhood that note all the ways to "no matter what: Escape. Survive." When her grandmother signs her up for a wilderness adventure program in California for "Black city kids," Addy desperately wishes she could escape that, too -- a summer in the forests of California with five strangers doesn't sound particularly interesting or safe. She is almost immediately proven wrong: her interactions with wilderness camp owner Leo establish Addy as "a kid who didn't know they belonged in the wild." Under Leo's tutelage, Addy adapts to the forest, learns about climate change's impact on the environment, and begins to flourish in her mapmaking skills. While the other kids in her group also become acclimated to the wildernesss, Addy is unique in her understanding of the world around her -- and when a forest fire threatens their very lives, it is that understanding that offers a chance at survival. Although the quick pacing doesn't lend itself as well to the full development of secondary characters, the novel's lyrical tone and first-person narration bring home Addy's love of nature as well as her urgency to protect it. Rhodes's contribution brings welcome diversity to the wilderness adventure genre; an afterword provides additional information on climate change, forest fires, and minorities' access to wilderness/national parks. Eboni Njoku September/October 2021 p.103(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Fire can change everything. Adaugo, whose name means "daughter of an eagle," leaves Bibi, her Nigerian grandmother and surrogate mother, to travel from New York to California with Wilderness Adventures for a three-week outdoor experience. Leo, the White owner of Wilderness Adventures, and two White college-age counselors, seek to teach Addy and five other urban Black kids enough outdoor skills to conclude their stay with a several-night backpacking trip. Tormented by nightmares of the fire that killed her parents, Addy obsesses over maps, mazes, and escape routes. Stylistically varied and impressively detailed, her sketches throughout the book highlight her talent and observational skills. She learns topographical mapping to understand the wooded landscape, and she quickly falls in love with nature. Leaving Leo, the only skilled woodsman, at base camp, the group encounters a wildfire the first night of their culminating trip, and the counselors ignore Addy's informed advice--based on Leo's mentorship and her focus on cultivating her navigation skills--to their peril. Inspired by California's 2018 Camp Fire, this novel teaches about nature and climate change but centers Whiteness since Leo imparts most of the wisdom. He also relies on the leadership of the counselors, neither of whom demonstrates the passion or cultural competence to work effectively with Addy and her peers. Those who know the woods may sense this habitat is less familiar to Rhodes than the settings of her previous books. A heart-pounding read that imparts both a healthy fear and a deep appreciation of nature's power. (afterword) (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
