It’s rather like the way 19th-century Europeansviewed the Amazon itself, a playground in which to work out inner selves and bring home hard-won life lessons. Even though we’re in the Brazilian Amazon, everyone speaks the King’s English. There’s a classic feel to this story from its very start, with its crisply characterized quartet, the kids flawed but courageous, facing exciting dangers that the reader is certain they will overcome. The kids come to realize the jungle is what European explorers called a “counterfeit paradise,” seemingly abundant but lacking food outsiders can easily recognize. The piranhas and caimans the kids encounter aren’t mindless killers but animals occupying important niches in the environment, and the true insect menace is not the spiders but the bullet ants. This is not the Amazon we think we know from films and cartoons. “The Explorer” moves at a good clip, its short scenes packed with crackling dialogue, and Rundell brings wonderful gusto to her descriptions of the many discomforts of junglelife. He’s not alone: Stranded alongside the British schoolboy are Con (“short for Constantia, but if you call me that, I’ll kill you”), a strong-willed schoolgirl whose primness will be tested by the rain forest adventure to come Lila, shy and even-keeled and finally Max, Lila’s little brother, a rascal prone to tantrums. After a plane crash, Fred is stranded in the Amazon jungle, where he will have to find shelter, food and - eventually - a way out. Katherine Rundell’s latest middle-grade novel, “The Explorer,” faces such enticing questions head on.
What’s in those empty spots? Why does no one know? Can I be the one to go find out? THE EXPLORER By Katherine Rundell 336 pp.
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