Lostman's River - Hardcover

Grade 5-8-In 1906, the destruction of the Florida everglades was just beginning, and DeFelice has used this historical setting to give perspective to the troubling ecological situations that are of concern today. Hiding from the New York law for five years in the Florida swamps, Tyler and his parents have survived through strength and love. The respect that they, and the Seminole Indians who live nearby, have for the plants and animals that share their environment contrasts starkly with those who venture into the Everglades for profit. The family is cautious and distrustful of strangers, but when a naturalist who wants to document the flora and fauna appears, they decide to trust him, and the boy is hired out as his guide. The first day out, he is horrified to discover that Mr. Strawbridge plans to kill the birds he finds rather than photograph them, and even more disturbed at his own ability to break a friend's trust and lead the man to a hidden rookery. On the second day, the scientist is coldly murdered by plume hunters, and Tyler must rely on his instincts to survive. The dark and forbidding cover will attract even reluctant readers to this story, but the sense of danger is not sustained, for Tyler is never discovered by the killers, or ever very far from home. The book will appeal more to "green kids" than to those looking for adventure. They'll be pulled in not by tension but by the authentic atmosphere, thick with wild creatures and plants, and the desperate cries of hundreds of orphaned baby birds that will ring in their ears as a reminder of what humans are capable of doing in the name of progress.
Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Years ago, Tyler's pa woke from a drunken stupor next to a dead man and, afraid he'd be convicted of a murder he didn't commit, changed his name and moved his wife and son from New York to the Everglades. Now, in 1906, Tyler is 13, a gifted artist who cares deeply for the region's already-endangered wildlife. ``Plumers'' have recently killed a warden assigned to protect egrets and other species threatened by rapacious hunters gathering their fashionable plumage. When long-winded Mr. Strawbridge of Philadelphia turns up seeking help in what he describes as scientific work, Tyler signs on; his family needs the money and he's glad to draw the pictures Strawbridge praises. But Tyler is quickly disillusioned; like Audubon, this naturalist shoots birds to study them. Sure that the wilderness is destined for annihilation, he aims to preserve specimens for museums; without scruple, he forces Tyler to lead him to a nesting place shown him, on trust, by a Seminole friend. Na‹ve when it comes to the local situation, Strawbridge loses his life in a terrifying encounter with the plumers; Tyler escapes, but the incident causes Pa to face up to his past and return to New York. This is easily the author's best novel since Weasel (1990), with strong, vividly evoked characters caught up in taut events that make a potent vehicle for a contemporay message illuminated by its historical setting. Author's note. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.