Night of the Howling Dogs
Camping with his Boy Scout troop on a remote beach on the Big Island of Hawaii on November 29, 1975, Graham Salisbury's cousin, then 13, survived a massive earthquake followed by a tsunami. Now the author has retooled that momentous experience into a fine and thrilling adventure novel narrated by Dylan, an eighth grader looking forward to his weekend camping excursion with seven other scouts. There's trouble brewing in the form of Louie, a tough Hawaiian kid with a chip on his shoulder who once threatened Dylan. With their two adult leaders, the scouts set out on a searingly hot 12-mile hike from a cliff on Mauna Loa, 2,000 feet above sea level, to a secluded coconut grove by the ocean. There they swim, get stung by wasps, tell ghost stories, and get scared by a shark. On the morning of the third day, their idyllic world falls apart. First there's the earthquake, which brings down the cliff in a hail of boulders, and then the wall of water bearing down on them like a mountain. Dylan and Louie must team up to find the others.
The nonfiction book Tsunami: The True Story of an April Fools' Day Disaster by Gail Langer Karwoski describes the wave that struck Hilo, Hawaii in 1946 and killed 150 people. If readers are wondering how they’d survive a disaster, they can read up on tips, techniques, and survival skills in Boy Scout and Girl Scout manuals and Conn and Hal Iggulden's bestseller,The Dangerous Book for Boys.
Reviewed by : JF.
Themes : INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS. MULTICULTURAL BOOKS.
CRITICS HAVE SAID
- “Inspired by that earthquake and tsunami, this vivid adventure soon strips away every vestige of normality, leaving characters dependent on their wits, their skills, and the mysterious spirits of land and sea for their survival. Salisbury weaves Hawaiian legend into the modern-day narrative to create a haunting, unusual novel that will practically booktalk itself.” – Carolyn Phelan, Booklist
- “Salisbury skillfully weaves together the elements of scouting, male bonding, outdoor adventure, and natural disaster in a spectacular setting.” – VOYA
- “Like any good survival story, this will make readers ponder what they would do when survival is on the line. A sure-fire literary thriller.” – Kirkus Reviews
IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:
- Boy Scouts Handbook: The First Edition, 1911. Dover, 2005. ISBN-13: 978-0486439914
- Buchanan, Andrea J., and Miriam Peskowitz. The Daring Book for Girls. Collins, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0061472572
- Clements, Andrew. A Week in the Woods. Simon & Schuster, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0689858024
- Cottonwood, Joe. Quake. Scholastic, 1995. ISBN-13: 978-0590222334
- Karwoski, Gail Langer. Tsunami: The True Story of an April Fools’ Day Disaster. Darby Creek, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-1581960440
- Iggulden, Conn, and Hal Iggulden. The Dangerous Book for Boys. Collins, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0061243585
- Kehret, Peg. Earthquake Terror. Dutton, 1996. ISBN-13: 978-0525652267
- Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. Atheneum, 1987. ISBN-13: 978-1934538043
- Roy, Ron. Nightmare Island. Dutton, 1981. ISBN-13: 978-0525359050
- Ruckman, Ivy. Night of the Twisters. Crowell, 1984. ISBN-13: 978-0064401760
- Salisbury, Graham. Blue Skin of the Sea: A Novel in Stories. Bantam, 1992. ISBN-13: 978-1560546238