Title: River Rampage: The Sam Cooper Adventure Series, Volume 3
By: Max Elliot Anderson
Published by: Port Yonder Press; Date: 2012
ISBN: 978-1-935600152
Price: $9.95
Ages: 8 and up
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Wayne S. Walker
Synopsis:
Do you think that you would enjoy going down a raging river on a
raft? Twelve-year-old Sam Cooper and his
family have moved to Harper’s Inlet on the Treasure Coast of Florida. His new friend, Tony Dodds, invites him and
another friend, Tyler Peterson, to take a white-water rafting trip on the
Colorado River in Utah with Tony’s Uncle Harlan. After some initial hesitation,
Sam’s parents give their permission, so Sam gets all his gear ready and Tony’s
father drives the boys to Moab, UT.
Everything is planned to make the trip as safe as possible, but the
unexpected can always happen. And with
Sam, Tony, and Tyler, it usually does.
The second day out, the rope tying the boys’ raft to the one ahead of it
catches on a small log wedged into some rocks and snaps, leaving them
stranded. Battling the raging waters in
a raft that is punctured by a rock and is now taking on water, the three manage
with great difficulty to bring the raft to shore in a very desolate place. Then when they try to walk out, they find
themselves in a box canyon with a kindly old prospector named Gus who has found
a gold mine but is trapped in by a group of motorcycle-riding claim
jumpers. What can the boys and Gus
do? Is anyone looking for them? Will they ever be able to escape?
Overall
thoughts: If your tween boys, and
girls , like adventure and excitement, they simply have to try Max Elliot
Anderson’s books. I’ve never read one
that I didn’t like. There is nothing objectionable. Families are usually presented as father,
mother, and children in loving relationships.
That’s not to say the kids in them never face any problems, but there
are always appropriate solutions which meet the needs. I like the way that Sam
and his friends attend church services, believe in prayer, and look to God for
guidance. Yet, the tone is not “preachy”
but just filled with good, clean fun.
Most of Anderson’s other books have had completely different characters
and settings, so a series is a departure for his writing. Book number one of the Sam Cooper series is Lost Island Smugglers, which I have
read, and book number two is Captain
Jack’s Treasure, which I have not read.
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