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Book Cover |
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Excerpt |
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Too Slow
I had to think
fast. What would my brother Nathan do in a situation like
this?
Nathan is a tour
guide in the Northern Territory. He's a survival expert.
Make your surroundings work for you, he told me once.
The forest is your friend, not your enemy.
Today is was my
enemy. It was bringing the fire. If I remained in the
forest, I was going to die. So much for Nathan's words of
wisdom.
There was a
rustling noise behind me. I sat up and watched a
three-foot-long goanna scurrying along the edge of the road.
It was followed by a small furry animal -- a bush rat or a
bandicoot. From further up among the trees same the thump
thump thump of fleeing wallabies and kangaroos.
Overhead, the sky was dotted with birds and bats and winged
insects. Everything was going in the same direction: away
from the fire.
They had the
right idea.
I struggled to
my feet -- to my foot, actually -- and started hopping down
the middle of the road, following the fleeing wildlife. I
had gone less than twenty yards when I had to sit down and
rest. It was hopeless. No way in the world could I make it
on my own. Not on one foot. Certainly not on the toes
of one foot. The fire would overtake me within a few hundred
yards, provided I didn't drop dead from exhaustion first.
Either way I was probably going to die, I thought,
as I watched an echidna pass me and go waddling down the
road.
Why hadn't I
tied Susie to a tree? It was because I hadn't stayed calm.
Because I hadn't been thinking. If I wanted to stay
alive, I had to use my head. I had to think my way out.
Nathan's words came back to me: Make your surroundings
work for you.
I stood up and
looked around. Trees, bushes, ferns, rocks, fallen branches
. . .
Fallen branches!
I found two
branches with forked ends. One was too long, so I inserted
it in the narrow gap between two saplings and twisted it
sideways until it snapped. I tested it again. Now it was
slightly too short, but it was better than nothing. I had a
pair of crutches.
They worked. I
hobbled along at a reasonable pace for about a hundred
yards. I even passed the echidna. But I wasn't going fast
enough. I could hear the growing roar and crackle of the
fire behind me. I could feel the hot wind like dragon's
breath on my back. The pungent smoke burned my nostrils and
stung my eyes. It was so thick that I could barely see ten
yards ahead.
Then I heard
another sound. A drumming noise. I stopped in the middle of
the road. The noise grew louder. Suddenly, a large,
indistinct shape materialized out of the smoke ahead. Susie!
My heart pumped with relief. Nan's little palomino had come
back for me.
I was wrong. The
shape didn't turn into a galloping horse. It was a bull.
Charging straight at me. At about sixty miles per hour.
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Synopsis |
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Sam Fox is
visiting his grandparents on their ranch. He is riding a
little palomino horse named Susie when the horse starts to
act a little strange. His grandma, Nan Corcoran, asked him
if he would take lunch out to his grandpa, Pop, who is
mending fences in the high pasture. Susie is full of tricks
and rides Sam into a branch, but she doesn't notice the
hornet's nest. One of the hornets stings Susie in her left
ear, and she takes off with Sam barely holding on.
Susie runs
into the bull pasture where Sam sees two men loading his
Pop's prize bull into a trailer. Susie runs into a fence and
Sam goes flying over her head and lands in a pasture on his
back. The cattle rustlers, whom Sam deduces is part of the
infamous Jindabyne Rustlers that have been stealing cattle
from local ranches lately, take off with the white bull. One
of them is in the truck with the bull in the back while the
other is riding a motorcycle.
Sam gets back
up on Susie and takes her over Copperhead Spur, a tall and
steep hill that the power lines run over. He wants to try
and get the truck's license plate so he can give it to the
police and earn the twenty thousand dollar reward. The ride
over the top is fraught with danger, but they make it safely
down to the other side where the road runs by. While on top
of the spur, Sam noticed that there seems to be a forest
fire, but it is a couple of miles away and didn't give it
much thought.
On the other
side of Copperhead Spur, Sam pulls two boards off of the
small bridge that crosses the creek, which will prevent the
rustlers from driving their vehicle over it. Sam is
discovered by the two men and hop in their truck when they
chase him. He slams it into reverse and crashes into a tree
and ruins the truck and scaring the bull half to death. The
rustlers finally notice the fire and take off riding double
on the motorcycle. Sam realizes that he must free his Pop's
prize bull, but when he gets a closer look at the white
bull, he realizes that it isn't the bull that he thought it
was. This one is Chainsaw, the meanest rodeo bucking bull in
the county.
After Sam
steps in a sharp stick that punctures his heal and then
breaks his ankle above his other foot trying to get the bull
out of the back of the truck, he realizes that he is in
quite the predicament. How is he going to get out of the
trees before the forest fire catches up to him and burns him
alive? If only his Nan's palomino has not run away with
those wild horse, he could ride out of danger. As he
staggers down the road, he thinks that he hears Susie coming
to rescue him. But it turns out to be Chainsaw, and Chainsaw
is charging right at him.
Bushfire Rescue is the
second book in
Extreme Adventures series written by Justin D'Ath. It is a
stand-alone book and, according to the author, you do not
have read them in order. The series is intended for readers
9 years
and older.
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Review |
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Bushfire Rescue is another
fun and exciting book in the Extreme Adventures series by Justin D'Ath. Once
again, Sam Fox finds himself in a deadly situation that will
take both brains and luck to get out of alive. This time,
Sam is injured and caught in the middle of a bushfire, or
what we in America call a forest fire. He is on his own this
time and he is in real trouble.
I love a
book that is just packed with tension, action and adventure.
So far, both of the Extreme Adventures books I have read
deliver these things, and deliver them with a bang. Right
from the first page, Sam, who isn't very good at riding a
horse, finds himself hanging on for dear life. The action
continues with a wild ride over Copperhead Spur, a battle
with the rustlers, and then the trouble with the bushfire.
If you like
a lot of action combined with a great story, then
Bushfire Rescue
is the book for you. Not only is Sam Fox a very personable
character that Young Readers will instantly bond with, they
will love all of the hairy circumstances that Sam finds
himself in. With all the trouble that Sam finds himself in,
his middle name should be "Danger."
Once again, Justin D'Ath has
created a wonderful tale that will keep Young Reader
gobbling up pages as they devour the book. The books are a
fairly easy read as they are intended for a young audience,
but even if you are older, you will highly enjoy these short
stories. Heck, I've been an adult for a couple of decades
and even I love these books.
Overall, Bushfire Rescue is
another excellent book in the Extreme Adventures series. I
cannot wait to see what kind of nasty situation Sam finds
himself in next time. I guess I will just have to read
Shark Bait and find out. Gee, I sure hope Sam doesn't
get chomped on by a great white shark. That would really
bite.
I rated this book a 9 out of 10. |
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