Book News

A great review of Follow The River came out in both the Anchorage Daily News and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Below are a couple of snippets from the review. You can read the full review here:

–Greci has the skills to show young readers that, despite our conflicts, we all have shared humanity. It’s a much needed message.–David James, Anchorage Daily News

–Young readers are who Greci is targeting. As an educator, he’s aware of the fact that many boys in upper primary grades tend to quit reading altogether….Greci accomplishes this task by keeping the action moving swiftly. Chapters are brief, and most end in cliffhangers that will keep young readers turning pages. Fortunately, with Alaska, Greci has a landscape that can kill people in any number of ways. And from one cliffhanger to the next, Greci manages to rope in quite a few of them. His ability to find unique new dangers with each book is impressive–David James, Anchorage Daily News

Also, The Wild Lands was included in a list of nine Young Adult Thrillers Get Your Heart Pounding on the CrimeReads website.

The four novels I’ve published in my writing career thus far are all written with the intention of engaging reluctant readers. That said, I sincerely hope that avid readers will enjoy them too. I strive to write page-turners that have depth and complexity, and while the external survival plots move forward, my hope is that the internal journeys of the characters are just as compelling.

Paul Greci is the author of The Wild Lands (Macmillan 2019) and Surviving Bear Island (Move Books 2015), a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection, Hostile Territory (Macmillan 2020), an Anchorage Daily News Best Book of 2020, and Follow the River (Move Books 2021), a 2021 Junior Library Guild Selection. You can order all of Paul’s books here.

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Surviving Bear Island: Two Reviews

Newspaper reviews are coming in for Surviving Bear Island.

From the Juneau Empire: Surviving Bear Island is an exciting book outdoors-minded boys and girls both will enjoy, and Southeast Alaskans will find a lot they can relate to. It’s fast paced enough to keep reluctant readers’ attention, but it also avoids oversimplification while communicating real-life dilemmas in understandable ways.

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Surviving Bear Island is a heart-pounding adventure that both kids and adults will enjoy… It follows its hero through a brilliant coming-of-age the likes of which are unlikely to be found anywhere outside Alaska.

You can order a copy of Surviving Bear Island

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Indigo

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Kirkus Review: Surviving Bear Island

Below is the Kirkus review of Surviving Bear Island:

KIRKUS REVIEW

A fateful kayaking trip forces Tom to grow up fast while he faces dangers he only ever dreamed about. When his mother died in a biking accident three years ago, Tom had to struggle to find his way back to a normal life. Dad was no help, as he reacted to the loss of his wife by shutting down and shutting out the rest of the world. But a kayaking trip in Alaska’s Prince William Sound seems to be a turning point for the two of them, a chance to start living the rest of their lives as a family again. Unfortunately, a choppy sea and a bad accident rip them apart, and Tom is forced to struggle for his own survival on Bear Island. Facing starvation, injury and the eponymous bears, Tom relies on the hope of finding his father to get him through his ordeal. Greci delivers a compelling narrative that manages to keep a quick pace despite being built around one character alone in the wilds. Flashbacks to the moments before the accident and memories of life before the trip work well to explain certain plot points and to add texture and meaning to the first-person narrative. The tension is well-crafted and realistic. Bear Island is a challenging environment to survive but a terrific thrill on the page. (Adventure. 9-14)

Pub Date: March 25th, 2015

Page count: 192pp

Age Range: 9-14

Publisher: Move Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 10th, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15th, 2015

You can order Surviving Bear Island from Amazon.

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