By Tim Fox
c. 2012
Amazon Digital Services
$2.99 for e-book for Kindle and Nook
$12.95 for paperback
$6 cross-curriculum for teachers
YA
202 pages
Tim Fox connected with me through Wisconsin Authors and
asked for a review. Although he sent me his story, I did buy the book.
Fox’s richly-imagined story takes place in Ice-Age central
Wisconsin where good and evil and life and death, as they always do, hang in
the balance. There are mastodons, boys with candy bars in their back backs,
good aboriginals and evil-intended aboriginals, lots of laughter, discovery of
new foods and even a highly-embellished language.
Twelve and ten-year-old brothers Mark and Barry go on a
camping adventure at Natural Bridge State Park with their uncle. Uncle Steve
and the boys’ father have been estranged since the death of Steve’s sister, Mom
to Mark and Barry. Using a mastodon tooth and stone spear point found on the
book-opening adventure, the boys travel back in time to Ice Age Wisconsin,
where they encounter a lost Ice Age boy and two mastodons. Running from a band
of warriors intent to kill them, the odd little family joins together to
survive. Through the Natural Bridge, which becomes a time portal, Steve can
peek at the events the boys experience, as well as the Ice Age boy’s
grandfather. Conquering fear of the unknown encourages life-changing decisions.
Fox sums up his story in a quote near the end:
“There’s a purpose. Are you ready to listen? Somehow it
clicked. He (Mark, main character) realized he would never understand it all,
but it was enough to know there was a purpose. He realized that the joys, the
struggles – they were all part of something greater. It made their lives more
than just a collection of experiences. They were a part of a rich tapestry – an
interweaving of time, events, people, and animals that challenged and enriched
not only their own lives, but the collected experience of creation.”
Although the author, a former school teacher, breaks away
from most common guidelines of YA literature, I found the story interesting. Touching
up the text by tightening, staying in one perspective per scene, choosing
language for the audience – average three years younger than the characters, or
elementary set, a few less bathroom jokes, and watching formatting issues, Journeys
would make a great classroom read. Fox provides a cross-curriculum guide at
extra cost on his web site. Visit http://www.journeysiceageadventure.com
for more information.
