River Danger

by Thomas J. Dygard

Lucas held the chisel under Eric's nose and said, "We've got some friends coming here in a little while. If you make a single sound, I'm going to hurt you real bad. Understand?" When Eric Douglas heads down the Buffalo River in his canoe, he thinks he's left the outside world behind. For the next week he'll be canoeing and camping -- enjoying the fresh smell of the surrounding woods, landing an occasional bass for supper, listening to the reassuring crackle of the evening campfire. And his biggest problem will be keeping his overactive little brother, Robbie, out of trouble. But when Eric stumbles upon a car-theft ring operating out of an isolated old barn, his wilderness trek turns deadly -- and his life depends on Robbie finding help, fast. The pace is rapid, the tension high, and the adventure thrilling in this latest offering from master storyteller Thomas Dygard.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 1998

About the author

In His Own Words...

"I can't remember when I first started writing fiction. it was shortly after I began reading fiction, I'm sure.

"I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I read a lot of the same kinds of books I'm writing-the John R. Tunis sports stories, for example. I also read a lot of history when I was young-and I still do now. It's always fascinated me.

"When I was a high school senior, I was offered two jobs, both of the apprentice sort. One was in a commercial artist's studio, on a recommendation from my art teacher. The other was in the sports department of the local newspaper, following work on the school paper. I took the sportswriting job.

"For four years I worked for the Arkansas Gazette while attending the University of Arkansas, first at Little Rock and then at Fayetteville, covering football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, tennis-everything that made up the sports page. After graduation, I joined the Associated Press as a newsman at Little Rock and later worked in AP bureaus in Detroit, Birmingham, and New Orleans. Eventually, I was Chief of Bureau in Little Rock, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. I retired from the Associated Press in 1993 and now live in Evansville, Indiana.

"For me, writing fiction is fun, relaxing, and satisfying-an enjoyable change of pace, a recharging of the batteries.

"My first young adult novel, Running Scared, got started one night in a motel room in Champaign, Illinois, when I had nothing else to do. Before long, the story had me in its grip. The creation of the thing was a fascinating experience. I liked the characters. I liked leading them through their problems to their triumphs. I kept going until one day it was finished.

"I did not set out to write for young people. Looking back, I think it was something of a blessing that 1 did not. As I wrote Running Scared, I imagined the reader as an adult, but after it was finished, it seemed more appropriate for young readers. The result, I think, was that the story did not talk down to teenagers. In every book I've written since, I've tried to keep the same approach."

Reviews

[Colton Miedl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that the book is pretty good. The book starts off a bit boring actually, but after a few chapters it starts to get interesting with the younger brother in the story, Robbie, getting lost. Reading this book reminds me of Gary Paulsen's books because it is in the wilderness. I have never heard of the author Thomas J. Dygard before, but the way that this book is reminds me of Hatchet in some way. This is the first book that I have read that is by him and I don't think that it is as exciting as it should be. The start of the book drags on a little too long as well. This book is one of the weirder ones that I am reading because at random points in the book it will switch points of view to a whole different set of people. The two main characters names are Eric and Robbie but I am not sure if the other set of characters who are named Wilmer, Lucas, and Jerry would be counted as main. I probably would not go back and read this book again, I don't think it is that good to want to reread it. I think that for the next book that I read I will try to keep away from this author.

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for middle readers about two brothers who are canoeing down the river and unfortunately get mixed up with a gang running a "chop shop" in the woods.

[Sue Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good book. love the story
great adventure book
highly recommend

[Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

River danger by Thomas J. Dygard does a good job with keeping the suspense going through the whole story. This book was a book that i couldn’t put down and wanted to keep reading. What I really liked about this book was really easy to understand and to know everything that was happening. River danger also made me think that the silliest things like making a secret code could mean life or death.

Thomas J Dygard does a great job keeping the reader involved. In the book the story goes from the brothers that are on a canoe trip (Eric and Robbie) to the guys (Lucas and Wilmer )that get stolen cars and then they tear them apart for the parts and sell them. Eric and Robbie encounter Lucas and Wilmer right before they left for their canoe trip. As the Eric and Robbie paddled down the river they kept on getting closer to the barn that Lucas and Wilmer tore the cars apart, the author did a great job transitioning between both of them as there gurney comes closer to each other till they find each other. The way they meet is when Eric and Robbie stop for the night to set up camp and Robbie goes out exploring in the woods and tries to get close to a deer and it kept getting dark, then Eric went to get Robbie back for supper. Eric was in the woods looking Robbie and could not find him, then he stumble upon a barn and were Lucas and Wilmer were and that's where they meet and kidnap Eric.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes the outdoors, fishing, or just wants a book to get connected to relativity easy. The reason I would recommend this book to people that like outdoors and fishing was because most of the book took place out in the nature. Eric does fish a little but he tells a story about him and his dad that some readers/ fishers could really connect to. This book is a little predicting in places but in some places you never know what's going to happen. River Danger would be really good for intermediate readers because the book is not confusing or have too many hard words. If you want a book that shows two brothers bonding and with a bad situation come out strong as ever this is the book for you.

[Lisa Astudillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

River Danger by Thomas J. Dygard is an adventurous story about Eric Douglas, the protagonist, who goes on a camping trip canoeing down the Buffalo River with his younger brother. Eric and his little brother Robbie are enjoying the natural wildlife, fishing for dinner, setting up campfires when they stumble across an isolated old barn. Eric and his brother explore further and come across a car theft ring which is operating out of this old barn. Eric gets in a dangerous situation where one of the criminals threatens to cut him with a knife. Robbie manages to get help from the Sheriff. In the end he boys continue on their fifty mile canoe-camping trip. Robbie's resourcefulness in the face of danger connects the brothers relationship even stronger. Overall I was not impressed with this story. I was not captivated by it. It reminded me of the Hardy Boys stories from my younger days. There is so much competition today I would not recommend this story. Target audience 6th-7th grade.

[Cadei · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a pretty good book. it was a short book and easy to read. there was lots of suspence too.

[Andrea S]

Its a good book so far.

[Tyson]

The book I read was River Danger by Thomas J Dygard. The lexile of this book was 780. In the book a canoe trip of 2 brothers becomes one of those brothers was Eric the older one. The other brother was named Robbie. There dad made Eric take Robbie on this trip. But when Eric found stolen automobiles he got taken hostage. All he could hope was that little Robbie came by to save him.
The theme of this book is to never underestimate someone. This is proven because at the begging of the book Eric was not that happy about taking Robbie out on this big trip. It really changed over time because like when he got caught he really depending on him and he wasn’t really depending on him at the begging of the book. Eric was in more of a hurry up and get this over with mood.
This book was a pretty good book in my opinion. I mean it was pretty easy but really boring at the beginning but was still pretty boring towards the end. It was pretty unpredictable but the only thing that really caught my mind was Eric got held hostage. But if you stole something I would think you wouldn’t hold anyone hostage you would wanna keep a low profile. The ending was like every other book a happy ending so it was alright.