Book Review: Thunderbird, by Deb Logan

**** Excellent.

The book has two narrators, a boy and a girl, both with fun stories.

Abut 150 pages.

 

Thunderbird

by Deb Logan

In short: Twins Janine and Justin are stuck at their father’s dinosaur-digging camp for the summer.  While most kids would be thrilled, they’ve seen it all before.  However, when Janine is called to find a mysterious egg for a mythological creature (the thunderbird), they’re both drawn on a quest through the regular world and the spirit world in order to save the creature from dying.

When I read like a kid (I’m actually a grown up, despite what my daughter might say), I think differently than I do as an adult.  Some kids’ books you can read as an adult (like Harry Potter), but some kids’ books you have to read like a kid (like Goosebumps).  This book is a book you should really read as a kid, and that’s a good thing.  When twins Janine and Justin take off without their father knowing where they’re going to follow a magical quest, my adult brain wanted to go, “No!  Bad bad!  Kids shouldn’t take off without their parents!” but it’s a book.  So I turned off that part of my brain and just enjoyed the book for what it is, which is an adventure story.  You know, a story in which people do stuff that they wouldn’t normally do, which, you know, most kids can figure out that they shouldn’t take off on magical quests without at least leaving their parents a note first.

One thing my adult brain really got into–Justin and Janine end up making part of their lengthy journey through the spirit world.  As an adult, I’ve read a lot of stuff about traveling through various spirit worlds that just leaves me bored, but the adult side of me found the spirit world described here just as interesting as my kid brain did.  I really enjoyed the fact that it changes depending on who your guide is?  Loved it.

Fast action, not a lot of blah blah blah, good characters, interesting plot and locations:  this book receives my kid-brain seal of approval.

Book Description (from WDM Publishing):

Janine Prentiss, a twelve-year-old Native American girl, is tired of spending her summers digging up dinosaur bones with her single-parent father, an eminent paleontologist. But neither does she want to spend her summer vacation listening to her shaman grandfather’s lame tales of spirit quests and totem creatures who talk. Instead of messing about with dead bones or fairy tales, Janine wants to go to cheerleading camp with her best friend. She wants to be a normal girl! Unfortunately, Dad doesn’t consider cheerleading a legitimate use of her time or his money. Bummer.

Justin Prentiss thinks his twin sister is nuts. What kid in their right mind wouldn’t love field camp? The wild beauty of Montana mountains, fresh air, and adults too busy to pay attention to what a guy is doing as long as he shows up for meals and bedtime. Field camp rocks!

However, it isn’t Justin who is drawn to the mysterious rock. It’s Janine, and the idiot girl is convinced that the chunk of granite–a fossil at best–is a real, live egg and that she’s got to protect it while it hatches. Girls!

The discovery of the thunderbird egg sweeps Janine and Justin off on the adventure of a lifetime. Not only will they discover that thunderbirds exist, but they’ll come face to face with malicious evil in the form of Unktehi, a spirit of disruption straight out of their grandfather’s legends.

About the Author (from the author’s website):

Deb Logan specializes in fantasy tales for the young at heart. She loves mythology and is especially fond of Celtic and Native American lore. She writes about faeries, dragons, and other fantasy creatures for the younger set with a light touch. Deb’s stories touch on the core of what it is to be young without the darkness prevalent in so many of today’s YA works.

You can find Thunderbird  and other Deb Logan stories at her publisher, WDM Publishing.  Her website is here.

Update: Deb put up a short article on…having twins.  She’s the mom of actual twins 🙂