by Shane Peacock
Orca Book Publishers, 2012
ISBN 978-1-55469-935-3
$9.95, 237 pp, ages 10+
orcabook.com
My favourite character in the story is Rose because she’s compassionate and down to earth. The story takes place in present-day France. At the reading of their grandfather’s will, the seven grandsons of David McLean are each given different missions. Adam, the favoured grandson, is sent to France. He must complete three difficult tasks there. On the first mission he will travel to a place where his grandfather once was and discover a part of him that he never knew. For his second task he must prove that a man called St. Exupery had a gift that Adam’s grandfather had given him in his plane the day that he died. The third and final mission is dangerous and exciting. Adam will have to sneak inside of an ancient cave and discover the meaning of life.
The story reminds me of the Alex Rider series that I read awhile ago which involves a boy around the same age as Adam who was also sent on missions. Something that I liked about this book is how some of the characters spoke French and then translated it to English.
Review by Reanna, age 15, grade 9.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s May/June 2013 issue.