FernFolio

When thirteen year-old Jules makes a list of the talents of his best friend, Chris, and compares it to a list of his own abilities, the only thing he knows he excels at, by comparison with his intelligent, athletic, good-looking, quiet friend, is talking. So when he and Chris and their impulsive, wild-child sidekick, Cory, decide to make a raft and travel on it from their Scarborough homes down the creek that runs through the ravine nearby to Lake Ontario, Jules knows that Chris will be the leader of their day-long expedition. Certainly, the instructions for building the raft come from Chris’ favourite book, The Outdoor Survival Guide, and, when it comes to navigating their vessel downstream, Chris effortlessly steers them clear of fallen trees and around bends, while Jules’ turns at the pole have them careening from one side of the creek to the other.
The boys travel through the wilderness of the Highland Creek ravine, encountering along the way some of its inhabitants, including a very memorable ex-circus performer named Ernesto, and three rope-swinging girls intent upon luring Jules, Chris and Cory into their mantrap.
But when the three boys are confronted with a gang of teenaged thugs determined to steal their raft, it is Jules’ gift of the gab that gets them out of the gang’s clutches. Unfortunately, the gang’s leader, a particularly nasty piece of work called Philip, decides to get even with Jules and his friends, and he and the gang start tracking the raft’s progress downstream. The situation rapidly escalates from taunts and pushing and shoving to threats and real physical violence, until Jules begins to realize that he will need all of his persuasive powers if the friends are going to avoid disaster.
Richard Scrimger has written another terrific adventure and populated it with characters who will stay with you long after the last page is read.
FernFolio Editor