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 | The Adventures of Pedro in Ecuador by Sandra L. Elkington | Reviewed by Jeanette Cottrell | |
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| Publisher: Bookman Publishing & Marketing
Publisher's website or address: www.bookmanmarketing.com ISBN: 159453005X Genre: children's/ya Subgenre: Pre-teen Release date: 2003 Format: paperback Pages: 159 Price: $9.95 | |||
| Ten-year old Pedro Martinez is on vacation with his family in the Napo River region of Amazon. The annual holiday is a welcome relief after a year's hard work on the family farm or "finca", but Pedro wishes it were a bit more adventurous. Uncle Alberto sends an urgent plea for help on his farm, and Pedro is delighted at the prospect of traveling there on his own to help. On his long bus trip, he and his seatmate, "Mr. Grump", accidentally switch backpacks. Pedro arrives at Uncle Alberto's only to discover that the pack with his clothes has turned into a pack filled with money, both local and foreign.
Mr. Grump turns out to be Fernando, a mobster who's delivering a payoff to his boss, Eduardo Garcis. Eduardo needed the money immediately to complete a business transaction. The humiliation and inconvenience fuel their determination to retrieve the money at all costs. When the chase nips Pedro's heels, he runs away from his uncle's farm, taking road after road and bus after bus throughout Ecuador as he tries to figure out what to do. After all, there's no safe way to hand money back to a criminal. This book has a dual personality. It attempts to educate as well as entertain. Pedro's adventures are liberally laced with facts on daily life, crops, climate, wildlife, and recipes. Ms. Tammy Caudy's excellent and well-chosen photographs of daily life in Ecuador enhance the educational aspect. Teachers often search for books like this as a relatively painless way to transmit cultural information. On the flip side, the mobsters' pursuit of Pedro moves fast, creating the somewhat jarring impression of a donkey and a racehorse yoked together. In addition, I had some trouble following Pedro's reasons for doing the things he did. There is no doubt, however, that Ms. Elkington and Ms. Caudy have provided a well-researched book with enough entertainment value to satisfy young readers. Jeanette Cottrell Reviewer, www.simegen.com www.teleport.com/~mkr | |||
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