Journey into Terror

by Bill Wallace

Journey into Terror is Bill Wallace's wild adventure of two young boys on the run.

Photographing two Learjets in order to test his new camera, Samuel Ross quickly forgets the angry man who tries to stop him (and who's captured in the picture), until his new life in Oklahoma is disrupted by the arrival of four thugs who are demanding his film.

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

About the author

Bill Wallace was an American teacher and later an author of children's books. He started writing to quiet down his fourth grade students, who loved his stories and encouraged him to make “real” books.

Bill Wallace grew up in Oklahoma. Along with riding their horses, he and his friends enjoyed campouts and fishing trips. Toasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories to scare one another, and catching fish was always fun.

Bill Wallace has won numerous children's state awards and been awarded the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Literature from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Bill Wallace died from Lung cancer on January 30, 2012.

Former elementary school teacher; West Elementary School, Chickasha, OK, principal, since 1977, and physical education teacher. Speaker at schools and universities in various states, including State University of New York and University of South Florida.

AWARDS:

Bluebonnet Award from Texas Association of School Librarians and Children's Round Table and Sequoyah Children's Book Award from Oklahoma State Department of Education, both 1983, Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Nebraska Golden Sowers Award from Nebraska Library Association, 1985, all for A Dog Called Kitty; Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Pine Tree Book Award, 1985, both for Trapped in Death Cave.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our main character, Samuel, lives with his mother and her new husband in Connecticut. Samuel's step-father is a wealthy lawyer with a Rolex and a Ferrari who is running for the office of State Senator. Samuel is part of that world; he owns a variety of slacks, polo shirts, suits, and shoes, and knows how to pair them to each occasion.

Samuel's father lives in rural Oklahoma with his new wife and her son, Gary. Samuel's father is a "starving artist," a photographer by trade. His family lives in a small wooden house they built themselves far from anything resembling civilization. Their clothes, like their lives, are practical and hardworking.

The first half of the book explores the difficulties of a child with separated parents. Samuel likes his father and wants to do right by him, but still feels like his father has rejected him by being so distant. He doesn't understand his father's new wife and step-son or how they relate to him.

The first half also explores differences of class. Samuel lives in the suburbs among the wealthy and politically elite. Samuel's father, and more importantly, Gary, have rejected the trappings of wealth; they live in the country surrounded by nature. Samuel takes ignorance and manners for stupidity, and so misjudges his new family.

These conflicts are interrupted when thugs step in and detain Samuel, Gary, and his father and step-mother. This melodrama occupies the second half of the book. The thugs turn violent and they're willing to kill to get what they want.

Journey into Terror was a good, quick read. The family and class conflicts seemed realistic without being preachy. I wouldn't call the melodrama realistic, but, hey, it's there to entertain.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam is on his way to visit his father in Oklahoma, and meet his new step-brother and step-mother. Sam is determined that he will like nothing about Oklahoma, but he snaps some pictures at the airport so he can show his dad that he has been using the camera he was given for Christmas. Little do they al know, but the pictures Sam took could cost them all their lives!

This book is perfect for young boys in the 4th-6th grade levels. Action, adventure, gunfire. This book has it all.

[Nick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Journey into Terror is more a Journey into Mild Distress and takes a while to get there. The protagonist is a city mouse that's horrendously snooty for the first half of the book, which is talky and dull family stuff that really sells him as unlikable. Right at the mid-point, it turns into a PG-rated First Blood with a bunch of running around that's still fairly talky and dull, really needing some more peril that didn't involve jogging away from the villains. Rocks falling. Rattlesnake. Electric fence. Heatstroke. Miffed badger. Something. The ending was a too-predictable Chekhov's Gun where it was easy to call what would happen even before any antagonists showed up in the book.

[Umair Sial · Rating 3 out of 5]

The way I felt about this book as I was reading it was 'This would make a good kid's movie'. It starts off slow but when the action starts, look out! The author tries to involve different people on different scenarios so it's difficult to predict which will be the hero at the end. However, his approach in having the parents step in to deal with the problems Gary and Sammy were having really set the stage for their chemistry in escaping. All in all, it would make a great kid's action film.

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is fast-paced, with short chapters, plenty of action, and good character-driven conflict. Sam, a Connecticut suburban kid accustomed to upper-class manners and society, is thrust into an alien world when he goes to visit his father in rural Oklahoma. His father has a new wife as well as a stepson, Gary. Gary and Sam may be the same age, but they are as different as oil and water, and get along just about as well as those two elements usually do--not at all.
Feeling guilty that he hasn't used a camera his dad sent him for Christmas, Sam snaps some photos at the airport as he's waiting for his flight. Turns out these photos are the catalyst that springs the whole story into overdrive.
There's gunplay, good-guy/bad-guy chases, people run for their lives, and along the way, Sam and Gary find some common ground.
This book reminded me of the way I feel after eating a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips, something I don't do too often. It was good for a quick snack, but nothing I'd make a meal of. It also reminded me of those roller coasters at county fairs: enjoy the two minutes of thrills and chills, but don't look too closely at the loose bolts or splintered wood or rusty cables holding things together.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first thriller I ever read, nearly 15 years ago in elementary school. It made an impression. I didn't know books like this existed and it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. Most of the book's content was over my head at the time, so it was fun to pick it up again so many years later. It was just as good—if not better—than I remembered. It's a fun and quick read as an adult.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that it was a realy good book. I realy liked how i got to see how sam and gary got along after some time. Esspesscialy after almost getting killed by a couple of men looking for a picture that sam took at the airport.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Old Children's Book. Liked it as a kid, but haven't read it in years.

[Terry Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a really good book

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 13397 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 4.2 - AR Pts: 5.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought it was scary. my friends didnt like it. my teacher read it to us.