![Fotografía de autor](https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/82/5d/825dc294c46be8765494c7441514330414c5141_v5.jpg)
Dusti Bowling
Autor de Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
Series
Obras de Dusti Bowling
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- female
- Nacionalidad
- USA
- Lugares de residencia
- Eagar, Arizona
Miembros
Reseñas
Listas
Premios
También Puede Gustarte
Autores relacionados
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 14
- Miembros
- 1,830
- Popularidad
- #14,060
- Valoración
- 4.2
- Reseñas
- 71
- ISBNs
- 104
- Idiomas
- 2
Story:
There is a lot in the story that middle graders will enjoy. Addie’s passion for flying is enthusiastic and her daredevilry seems intriguing. Jolene’s troubles with her mother also strike a chord. There is a lot of humour and emotion in the story. This, plus the adventurous rescue effort, is bound to make them happy.
The story covers quite a few relevant themes, including Jolene’s low self-confidence because of her looks, her mother’s opioid addiction, and the issues of online safety and risks of talking with virtual acquaintances. Most of these are covered well.
Jolene’s efforts to rescue Addie go somewhat predictably and even irritably, what with one issue after another. There’s one line in the story that goes, “This whole ordeal feels like obstacle after obstacle.” Well, I felt the same way. More importantly, the parent part of me wasn’t too happy with some of the decisions taken by Jolene. Granted, she had her reasons to go on this daring sojourn without her mother, but there is always someone to approach for help, ALWAYS. Stealing your parents’ phone and credit card and assuming you can handle the rest, lying about your online activities or whereabouts, making a rescue plan that doesn’t include the safety of yourself too - none of these are takeaways I want kids to have. All of these can be taken as lessons on what not to do, provided kids understand this as such.
The audiobook clocks at 6 hrs 13 min and is narrated by Stacy Gonzalez. She does a fabulous job of bringing all the characters to life and I enjoyed her performance from start to end.
All in all, this is a good story, and I hope kids read it with the right approach and take the correct takeaways from it rather than treating it as a sanction to proceed with ill-advised solo adventures.
3.75 stars.
My thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Across the Desert”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.
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