Camp Dive River

Gr 6 Up—The Silvas have a knack for finding adventure. Whether camping, diving, or backpacking through the Amazon, harrowing escapades always seem to find them. In the first book, the brothers fight off an attacking grizzly and then escape a raging forest fire during their backwoods camping trip with their father. The second title highlights Franco Silva's first scuba-diving trip, where he is nearly eaten by a giant squid. Quick thinking and training help him return safely to The Heights. River follows the family as they become stranded on the banks of the Amazon and must evade hungry caimans, piranhas, and army ants while hiking back to a local village to be rescued. While primary-grade readers could indeed handle this series, struggling secondary readers are the target audience. Short sentences in large print make comprehension easy, and most words are easily decodable, allowing these titles to be used in ELL classrooms. Unfortunately, they look like educational readers and the covers are turnoffs. Additionally, savvy readers will question the plausibility of these situations and the likelihood of all of them happening again and again to the same family. Still, the books are more entertaining than typical intervention readers. Expect them to be a part of the prescribed curriculum rather than independent reading choices.—H. H. Henderson, Heritage Middle School, Deltona, FL