The Red Kayak

by John R. Weber

Jordan Gunn can't swim-at least he can't swim in the cold, dirty lake at summer camp. Fortunately, he meets Nick Dietrich, the waterfront director, who helps him overcome his fears and eventually have enough confidence to pass his swimming test and learn to kayak. Jordan's first relationship with Nick is that of hero-worship. When Jordan helps Nick rescue two of Jordan's friends from the lake at night, Jordan's hero-worship turns into a deep friendship. Later, Nick takes Jordan on his first whitewater kayak trip in northern Wisconsin on the Wolf River. Jordan discovers that it's much harder to kayak on a moving river than on a lake and he is terrified of the rushing water. Early in the trip, Nick is seriously injured in an accident that Jordan thinks he caused. Since Nick can no longer paddle, Jordan must overcome his fears of the water and paddle by himself almost twenty miles to the take-out point to get help to rescue Nick. After Nick is rescued, Jordan must confront his guilt and somehow maintain his friendship with Nick.

172 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2006

About the author

John R. Weber is currently Director of Secondary education programs at a private school in the mountains of Honduras. After receiving his MA in computer science, John spent twenty-two years working in higher education administration in information technology, and studied fiction at Missouri University.

When he’s not in Honduras, John lives in northwestern Illinois, where he bicycles and teaches whitewater kayaking and backpacking to teens and preteens.

Orphan is his first young adult novel.

Reviews

[Amelia Jeanne]

Mrs. Mauer read this to my fifth grade class after recess.

[Richard Motycka]

The first part of the book was just telling about bardy's normal life with school and how he hangs out with his friends the middle of the book was saying how he thought that it was Mr.Deangalo but it was really his wife and his son and Brady liked to babysit the Deangalos, son ben. The red kayak sank and ben droned as his mother was getting to shore because ben had a life vest on.the third part of this book was telling how their experience in juvenile court was.

[Roe]

The book that I have read is The Red Kayak, by John R. Reber. This Book starts really slow and is about a teenager and his friends, TJ and Digger. They have a new neighbor named Mr.Diangelo. Digger is really mad at the Diangelos because they bought his grandfathers land. And one day the Diangelos come home with a new shiny red kayak.
The next day Mrs.Diangelo and her son go missing with the red kayak. There bodies are found the next day, dead. The red kayak is found in the bottom of the water with a hole in it. Many questions stir up. Was this a murder? How did the hole come to be in the bottom of the kayak.
This book is really boring in the beginning. This book does pick up after the first few chapters. It is hard to write a review on this book without giving anything big away. This book is not the best book that I have ever read and I almost dropped the book and gave up on chapter three. There are a lot of metaphors in the book and I feel that made the book a lot better then it really was. I think this book is meant for ages ten to fifteen.
After a few chapters this book loses its story line and you have to infer a lot.
I would give this book a two out of five and would honestly not recommend this book anyone. Especially if you don’t like slow parts.

[Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all and all amazing. If you love action and adventure. If you love drama and something that will make you cry. Then this is the book for you. There are things in this book that I can relate to. It is about a boy who isn't looking for fame but finds it in a scary and devastating way.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not very interesting.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well written, but really sad. Teaches a good lesson.

[Edie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be great for a book club discussion since it highlights some tough dilemmas with real consequences.