Skip to main content

Red Fox Road

 

By Frances Greenslade
Toronto: Puffin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers, 2020. Fiction.

Francie and her parents are traveling to the Grand Canyon from British Columbia, Canada, when they decide to take a shortcut given to them by their GPS. An old logging road that looks like no one ever travels down it. When they are deep in the forest, their truck hits a giant rock that causes it to stop working. Francie and her mom wait by the truck while her dad continues down the road on foot to find help. He promises that he will be back in a few hours. At first Francie is excited to put her survival skills to use, but as time goes by, Francie and her mom get more and more worried. Then after a couple of days, Francie wakes up and her mom is gone too, and has left her a note on the truck telling her to stay put. She is completely alone, in the middle of the woods. 

For those who love survival, adventure stories, this is the perfect book. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire novel, just waiting to see how everything would resolve. The details that the author included, made me feel like I was there in Francie's shoes experiencing what she was. I also loved how the author weaved wilderness survival skills into the story, making it an educational read as well as a suspenseful adventure. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Faker

Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...

Review: Fresh Start

Fresh Start By Gale Galligan New York: Graphix, 2025. Graphic novel. 270 pages. Ollie Herisson is only in 7th grade, but she has already lived all over the world. Her father is an American diplomat, whose job has taken their family to France, Singapore, Thailand (where her mom is from), and now to Chestnut Falls, Virginia. Ollie loves that her family doesn't stay in one place very long, it allows her to have a fresh start and hide from any embarrassing moments each time they move. But Ollie's parents have big news -- they've decided to buy a house in Virginia and put down roots. Now, Ollie and her younger sister Cat have to figure out how to build lasting friendships which means resolving conflict rather than running away when things get hard.  Loosely based on the author's own childhood experiences, this graphic novel is sure to be popular with readers who like coming of age stories. Watching Ollie learn to think of others as she advocates for her sister Cat, and navig...

Review: Will's Race for Home

  Willl's Race for Home  By Jewell Parker Rhodes Little Brown & Company, 2025. Fiction. 256 pages.    Will is a young man whose father and family are working the land as sharecroppers in Texas. When Will's father comes home with the news that there is land available in Oklahoma to those who can stake and settle it, Will's father expresses his deep desire to go and claim land for their family. Will begs to be included, but his mother is reluctant to let him go. After input from the entire family, they decide that Will is ready for the responsibility. Along the way Will and his father develop a deeper appreciation for each other, form deep friendship, discover hidden enemies, and encounter many challenges which force them to make difficult decisions. Will's father has to rely heavily on him, especially as they get closer to their final destination. Will's bravery is inspiring and commendable.  This book is full of many amazing elements: suspense, adventure, fr...