My Near-Death Adventures

Gr 4–6—Stan, the protagonist of DeCamp's lively and folksy debut novel, lives with his mother in Michigan in the late 1800s when a mysterious envelope arrives that changes their lives. Eleven-year-old Stan (who is literally counting the days until he turns twelve) has always assumed that his "long-lost father" is dead, but with the arrival of the envelope-and Stan's grandmother-he learns that his father is alive. Stan's "near-death" adventures begin when he travels to his uncle's logging camp where his mother and grandmother will cook for "real lumberjacks." With his cousin Geri (older than Stan by "twenty-three months and three days") as his guide, Stan navigates life with a group of colorful characters, using vivid language to describe the loggers and his campaign for his mother's permission to participate in the annual logrolling event. While Stan helps with chores, forms friendships with the loggers, and feels uneasy about the interest several men express in his mother, his rich imagination finds an outlet in the scrapbook he fills with magazine ads and clippings, copies of which are scattered throughout the novel. More poignant is the life Stan imagines his father having while waiting for his young son to find him. "I imagine he's out in the world doing something amazing, like mining gold or riding through the Wild West on horseback," Stan thinks. A secondary plot about Geri's interest in becoming a doctor enriches the story. Stan is a likable character with an exaggerated view of his abilities and a good heart. DeCamp's novel is a solid choice for fans of Rodman Philbrick's The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Scholastic, 2009).—Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA