Review: RED KAYAK

(This book was reviewed by Laura, aged 13)

3.88 Stars from 2,238 GoodReaders

The RED KAYAK is a dramatic book full of plot twists.  The story is set in the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia where life is changing for Brady and his friends.  Rich people, like the DiAngelos, are moving in and are changing their way of life.

The plot revolves around a tragedy where Mrs. DiAngelo and her 3 year-old son are in a kayak that overturns. When Brady finds Ben hooked on a rotting log he picks him up and tries to save his life.  Once they get back to the bay Brady's cousin Carl performs CPR and they say "we have a pulse !" However, later in the book he tells Brady that Ben is dead.  Brady is very sad, but it gets worse because he finds out from Digger that they got the idea to sink the boat from him.  Brady tries to find the truth.  But does he really want to know the truth?

My Thoughts

I didn't like this book because there were too many plot twists.  Every time some problem is solved and you think that the book is going to be about what happened after that, then another problem would crop up.  For example, when you think that Brady is an only child you find out that he had a sister named Amanda, who died of SIDS.

And when you think that Brady is going to tell the police about the drill, you find out that he throws it in the water.  These twists made me feel like I was reading a Goose-Bumps book because the twists seemed artificial, and not realistic.

I think if you want to read something that is exciting that you should look at Gary Paulsen's book HATCHET.

Laura~


RED KAYAK
by Priscilla Cummings

Reading Information:
Word Count: 50,353
Page Count: 224
Accelerated Reader:  4.9 / points: 8.0
AR quiz: 82252
Lexile: 800L
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