Children's Literature
When fifteen-year-old Dylan Sands arrives in Texas to take a whitewater river trip on the Rio Grande, he expects to see his uncle and cousin waiting for him. The fact that they are not at the bus stop is only the first indication that this is not going to be just a river trip. Dylan finds his cousin Rio, and the pair embark on the trip without adult supervision and straight into the remnants of a hurricane. Together they need to use their wits and their previous water experience to maneuver the raft and the canoe through the politically and physically dangerous waters along the Texas and Mexico border. Their trip is both astounding adventure and questionable decision making. When they meet up with Carlos and Diego, a pair attempting to cross the border and enter the United States illegally, everything changes and they soon find themselves paddling for their lives and the lives of their newfound passengers. The Texas border is not a safe place and their decision to travel in the face of National Guard presence does ask the reader to suspend disbelief. At the end, the boys face the consequences of their recklessness. In fact, given all that the boys go through, the ending is just too simplistic, but that does not discount the fast-paced action and the detailed descriptions of the canyons and bluffs along the river. Fans of Hobbs will welcome the wild water experience that he crafts, and reluctant readers will be hooked from the first tarantula. Reviewer: Janis Flint-Ferguson