Red Kayak Book ReportBy Bradley Derrick 4/13/08Red KayakPriscilla CummingsRealistic Fiction2004, 209 pages

Characters:

Brady-A 13-year-old boy who lives on Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. He is kind, has several friends and gets good grades in school. He is bothered easily, however, which leads to his troubles towards the middle of the book.

JT- One of Bradys two best friends along with Digger. His real name is Jeremy Tyler. He lives on a chicken farm yet is fond of computers. He has a father in the hospital waiting for a kidney transplant; JT and his sister Kate apply as donors but do not match.

Digger- Bradys other best friend whose real name is Michael Griswald. Diggers father is a construction worker and often fights with his wife. Digger has a grudge against the new neighbors, the DiAngelos, as they built their house on his grandfathers land.

Carl- Bradys cousin, a paramedic/firefighter who spends lots of time with Brady. Carl often helps him work through difficult situations through good advice and by taking him to an aquarium or movie to take his mind off of the problem.

The conflict of this story could fall into all four categories, but it most fits with Man vs. Man. I say this because the main event of this story involves a practical joke against another person that turns deadly. It also loosely fits with Man vs. Self as the main character, Brady, has a secret that he describes as a weight upon his shoulders, causing him much emotional distress.

The story begins on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland near the Corsica River. The DiAngelo family moves into a mansion built on Diggers grandfathers sold land, making Digger angry. One evening, Brady makes an apparently sarcastic comment about how Digger could get back at the DiAngelos by drilling holes into the bottom of their kayak as a practical joke, giving the victim an early morning swim. Digger takes this seriously and threatens JT if he doesnt agree to help him drill the holes. This causes the death of the DiAngeloss 3-year-old son Ben. Brady soon finds out and months later, while out on his fathers fishing boat, he tells his father everything. Bradys father tells the authorities about the crime and both Digger and JT are sentenced to 9 months at a forestry camp.

I think the most interesting part of the book was when Brady broke down and told his father what had happened to make Ben die. The many separate parts of the book going on at once all came together at this point, answering many questions I had. The timeframe in this part of the story is all within a couple months but seems like only a week; the conviction and trial happen very quickly. JT and Digger plead guilty and are sentenced to 9 months at a forestry camp; Brady thinks this is much better than 9 months at a detention center.

From my perspective, the theme of this book is to always tell the truth and take responsibility for your actions. Brady was honest and came forward towards the end of the book and told his dad everything; how the kayak got holes drilled into it, who drilled them, etc. He was mature enough to admit that he had a minor part in it, his friends pleaded guilty at the courthouse-they all did the right thing by coming forward and admitting it. It is always much easier to tell the truth at the beginning than to lie and be discovered later. The result of telling the truth was the fact that the consequences were not as bad as they could have been, had the adults found out from another source. If everyone did this, just admitting their mistakes, things would be much easier to cope with.

I would definitely recommend this book; it was the best book that Ive read in a while. Of course, while thats just my opinion, it was nominated for a Maud Hart Lovelace award, so I can back my statement. I liked how the story switched time frames a few times-from 6 months ago to 2 months ago, to the present, and so on, until the last 50 pages of the book when everything came together as one. I liked the fact that the book was written in first person so that I could gain a little bit from Bradys perspective and view on things. The only thing I didnt like about the book was the fact that I wanted to know what happened after the trial when Digger and JT were convicted; it was somewhat of a cliffhanger ending. All in all, though, it was a great book.