about the book
Twelve-year-old Ryan is not the outdoorsy type. The last time he went fishing, he ended up with a hook in his neck! Considered lazy and nerdy, Ryan would rather play video games. So when his older brother, Tanner, wakes Ryan before dawn and tells him he is going camping, Ryan is not thrilled.
Ryan is not given a choice. An outgoing guy’s guy, Tanner always gets what he wants. According to Tanner, it’ll be great fun. They’ll fish, camp, roast some marshmallows, and have a wild adventure flying down the rapids in kayaks.
But it turns out the kayaks are just the blow-up kind.
And the canyon river is really high and fast.
And Tanner isn’t really super experienced at white-water kayaking.
Tanner leads Ryan down a narrow chute—directly into a jagged log that slices through both kayaks! The boys are thrown into the freezing turbulent water. Since Tanner is unconscious and injured, Ryan has to get help for Tanner—but the canyon walls are too steep to climb.
There is only one way Ryan can go…back into the river. But this time he will have to ride a small air mattress. It is the worst day of Ryan’s life!
about the author
If you ask him, P. J. Petersen will tell you he grew up in the most boring place ever, just six miles from no-where! Actually nowhere was Geyersville, California, and the boring part was living on a prune farm! His family didn’t have the money to travel, so P.J. did his traveling through books. He read everything he could get his hands on and he always knew he was going to be a writer.
P.J. ended up graduating from Stanford and earning a doctorate in English from the University of New Mexico. He taught at Shasta College for 36 years.
Twenty of those years, P.J. wrote seriously without ever selling a thing. But then he decided to write a book for his daughter Karen, who was a seventh grader at the time. He knew just what she would like. The book ended up being published, and P.J. has been writing for young readers ever since.
Retired from teaching, he lives in Redding, California, with his wife. In his spare time, P.J. enjoys hiking, kayaking, and bicycling. If it’s raining, you’ll find him baking bread, working on crossword puzzles, and enjoying books by other authors. He still reads everything he can get his hands on!
Sources:
Author biography : Goodreads
Book trailer: Wild River
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