Gary Rodriguez

At sixteen years of age, Savi (Savannah) has been through a lot. An injury dashed her dreams of competing in the Olympics and left her with a slight limp. She still plans on having fun at the adventure camp though.

After witnessing how a car barely slows down long enough for a girl to scramble out and crumble in the dirt, Savi comforts and befriends Jade. And soon becomes friends with Rico, but it doesn’t look like she’ll get along with Conner. He doesn’t pass up a chance to tease her about her limp.

This could complicate things when they have to all ride together for the overnight white-water rafting trip. Savi is determined to enjoy the trip even if she has to share a raft with Conner.

What was supposed to be an exciting ride becomes a disaster when the boat overturns and their adult guide is swept away, leaving them alone in the wilderness, on the wrong side of the river.

Right after the accident, the group dynamics come into play. Each of the characters have assets and weaknesses. At first you’d expect them to all pull together. Most people do. But when the going gets tough, you could see it starting. The self doubt. The lack of trust in each other. And it’s compounded by the local legend.

The locals claim the woods belong to Vexel, a legendary beast who protects his territory. With night approaching they use what they have to make camp and huddle in the dark.

And this is where the mysterious hunter finds them. He offers what he has in supplies and warns them to get to the crossing point on the river before the 31st. At that time, the dam opens and they won’t be able to cross, trapping them with Vexel.

All of these teens must face their own inner demons, conquer their doubts, and find hidden strengths while learning to work as a team. All of this while attempting to allude a ferocious predator. The author did a wonderful job of putting you in the moment, feeling what the characters felt.

My apprehension grew along with the teens as Vexel made its presence known and began to stalk them. There were some very scary scenes. Not gross, but hair raising ones. At the end of the book, I still wasn’t quite sure what the beast was and thought that was very creative of the author. I drew my own conclusions and pictured many things.

If I ever got lost in the woods, I’d like these resourceful teens by my side. They come across as genuine to a fault.

The author puts his characters in many precarious situations as they struggle to survive. I can only hope I’d do so well.

And as for the mysterious hunter. I’d like to know more about him. A book about his history with the beast, Vexel, and why he’s so obsessed with killing it would be exciting.

While tagged for middle grade and young adult readers, I got a kick out of it and recommend it to older readers too.… (mais)

Escape through The Wilderness is an adventure novel suitable for middle school readers. Its main characters, 4 teenagers at an Adventure camp, are challenged by extreme conditions, injuries and dangerous situations. Survival is the main goal, but the teens learn teamwork along the way. There is also a character that lives her faith and makes a big impression on the other three.

I found the book a bit slow at first as the author attempted to establish the characters’ personalities and motivations. The legend of the monster Vexel is introduced during a night time camp fire — a foreshadowing of what is to come. But as soon as the 4 teens are thrown into peril, the action ramps up. Their encounters with wild animals and a lone hunter seem a bit hard to believe, but I think kids ages 12-14, will enjoy the survival skills employed by the characters, their independent actions and their determination to survive. There is also a lot to think about in the way the characters grow emotionally.

Audience: kids 12-14.

(Thanks to Pump Up Your Book for a review copy of this book. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)… (mais)

This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaway

Gary Rodriguez has written a book for those that fear speaking in public. The main emphasis in the book is the preparation of the speech and its content. A lot of the hints are common sense approaches but he also adds questions to ask yourself. One is that you understand what the audience is expecting to learn. (A good example he gives – don’t talk about Santa when your topic is the Easter bunny.) He also goes into understanding your audience demographics and knowing your content. The strongest part of the book is the section on structuring the speech and what to say or not say to strength the outcomes you want to achieve. The weakest part of the book has to do with presentation tips – however he gives sources for further reading in this area. He also gives a “fear of public speaking phobia test” with results.

The most helpful chart in the book was the one on p. 144 where he lists all the steps at a glance in the preparation of the speech. He also highlights important points in sidebars. There are 3 bibliographies – web sites, books (some not repeated from books cited in the text of the book) and blogs. Due to the ephemeral nature of the internet, some of these sites may not be available in the future. However I did check some of them and they were available but be aware that most are commercial sites. Dr. Rodriguez also lists his commercial site where there are more materials available.

Since I do bibliographic library instruction on the college level for my science classes as well as a talk on samplers for my college’s speaker’s bureau, I learned some good tips and will change the way I approach structuring my talks. I will still feel terror every time I get up in front of a group but my results should be better. I’ve already changed my basic sampler talk, eliminating slides that weren’t pertinent to the talk. If you need to develop speeches that are well planned and coherent, this book is for you.… (mais)