Mom's general thoughts: I skimmed the first book completely through before allowing him to read them. (This took me a grand total of 20 minutes max.) The premise of the book is that there are a group of kids that sign up to run a race around the world. The children are formed into teams and they compete against each other as they attempt to complete courses taking them all over the globe. Along the way they learn about geography and the animals which inhabit the various lands. There are to be additional titles available in this series.
Mom Concerns: the children sign up for this adventure which is clearly a set up for a reality tv show (although that doesn't seem to be made explicitly clear). They have guides which stay with them (the adult supervision necessary!) but who, of course, do not advise or counsel. They are just there to keep an eye on things. I don't really think very much of the set-up but I also knew that the concept of a reality show was going to go right over Bookworm1's (age 8 1/2) head and so I didn't necessarily mind him reading it. I wouldn't continue to suggest such titles as he grows up, but for now I think it's fine. The book is mostly about animals and adventure from his perspective and I won't begrudge him that.
My only other "concern" isn't a very strong one. The kids happily wave goodbye to their parents and occasionally reference the fact that if their parents knew what they were doing on these adventures, they'd be terrified for their children's safety. They don't seem to talk about their parents in a disrespectful way, per se, but it's verges on it. I didn't see their attitudes as being blatant enough to raise it as a topic of discussion with my bookworm but I'd just as soon authors take great caution when having the younger characters speak of or reference the adult characters. As I say though, the issue wasn't glaringly obvious enough for me to want to address it because I also know that he isn't the type to take great notice of that or have it effect him negatively unless it's really obvious. And it wasn't.
Bookworm1's general thoughts:
This series is about a race that the children were trying to win. They were in a race and they had to figure out clues about an animal and then take a picture of that animal. Then they got to move on to the next thing.
The first book is Rain Forest Relay
The second book is called Great Reef Games
Q & A with Mom:
Would you recommend this series of books to other kids? I think so.
How old do you think someone should be before they read these books? They should be old enough to read The Boxcar Children Books.
Was there anything scary in the books that you would warn others about? No.
Was there anything troublesome/worrisome/bad in the books that you would want me to know about? No.
Do you want to read the other books in this series? Yes.
Why? They are exciting.
Race the Wild #3: Arctic Freeze is due out later this year.
Many thanks to Scholastic Books who sent the above titles our direction in order to facilitate this review. We received no additional compensation and all opinions are our own.
3 comments:
I'm always drawn to adventure books, especially when they add geography to the mix(for my boys' bookshelves). I'll have to check this series out. (I think the Travels with Gannon and Wyatt series is probably my favorite so far.)
I forgot to give a high five to the author/publishers for the diversity that looks to be in these books! :D
Sounds like an interesting series.
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