Reviews for Red kayak

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Gr. 6-9. In this satisfying crime and coming-of-age drama, a toddler drowns in a kayak accident after friends of teenage Brady, the victim's neighbor, vent some anger against the child's dad by drilling holes in the bottom of his craft. It was a mean-spirited prank--but no one was supposed to die. What happens now? Revealing the terrible secret would implicate Brady's friends in the drowning, and it clouds his whole world with guilt and fear. Cummings works plot and characterizations skillfully, building suspense as the evidence unfolds and as Brady wrestles with his decision and tries to come to terms with his own responsibility. Brady's eastern-Maryland surroundings and heritage (his father, a waterman, struggles to make a living from crabbing) are also vividly evoked. Brady's ultimate decision is both anguished and well reasoned, making for a realistic conclusion. --Anne O'Malley Copyright 2004 Booklist


Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Middle-schooler Brady Parks heroically rescues a little boy involved in a kayaking accident, but triumph turns to tragedy when the boy later dies and Brady realizes that his best friends sabotaged the boat as a spiteful prank. The deliberately paced novel features a strong Chesapeake Bay setting and a thought-provoking moral dilemma as Brady debates whether to turn in his friends. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A courageous teen's moral dilemma—and how he comes to terms with it—underscores this well-written, sometimes gripping story. A young child, for whom 15-year-old Brady Parks once baby-sat, dies after his family's kayak sinks during an outing. Brady's valiant attempts to revive little Ben actually get him to breathe for a few minutes. Sadly, the tiny boy succumbs and Brady's plagued with guilt and grief. His sorrow is nothing, though, compared with the shock of discovering that the tragedy was the result of a malicious prank by his two best friends. Even worse is Brady's discovery that he himself unwittingly gave them the idea. This sickening fact, reluctance to rat on his pals, and the thought that he, too, could be criminally charged in the death keep Brady silent. In the end, though, Brady knows what he must do. The bland title and cover might keep kids away from this strong effort. Too bad: it deserves an audience. (Fiction. 11-14) Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.


School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 7 Up-Brady, J.T., and Digger are friends from working-class families who live along the Chesapeake Bay, where crabbing and oyster fishing are a way of life and an extra source of income. Their parents' resentment toward developers and rich summer families rubs off on J.T. and Digger but not Brady, who befriends the DiAngelos and their toddler, Ben. When Mrs. DiAngelo and Ben go out in their new kayak on a cold, foggy morning, it overturns. Brady joins the rescue team and finds Ben barely alive in the water but, despite his heroic efforts to save him, the two-year-old dies from hypothermia. Once it is apparent to Brady that J.T. and Digger may have sabotaged the kayak as a prank, he faces a gut-wrenching, moral decision to tell a truth that would betray his friends and reveal his own, indirect culpability. The first-person approach works well here, and Brady's 13-year-old voice is fresh and lighthearted at times and introspective and grief-stricken at others. Cummings has created a multifaceted story that is as much about the families and life in the Chesapeake as it is about a prank gone awry. Brady's bighearted cousin Carl, his supportive father, and the anguished Mrs. DiAngelo are particularly well-developed characters who are pivotal in Brady's understanding of the path he must choose. This well-crafted story will have broad appeal.-Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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