Jason's Gold

Racing to catch up to his brothers in the Klondike gold fields, fifteen-year-old Jason Hawthorn meets an adventurous girl named Jamie and the not-yet-famous Jack London. But mostly he travels alone with King-a husky he's rescued from a madman. After crossing the perilous Chilkoot Pass, Jason and King still have to get five hundred miles down the Yukon River before freeze-up. When a near-fatal accident stops them, the pace escalates and the emotion deepens. Told with bone-chilling authenticity, this gripping survival story glitters with real details from the Klondike gold rush. Includes maps and an author's note.

Horn Book

(Intermediate)
Will Hobbs is a master at writing the tantalizing beginning so essential to the success of the adventure story: "When the story broke on the streets of New York, it took off like a wildfire on a windy day." That sentence sets the tone and style of a gripping account of a fifteen-year-old boy's encounter with the hazards of the Canadian wilder-ness in 1897 as he struggles to join his older brothers searching for wealth in the goldfields. He is well named in his quest: like the Greek hero of old, Jason encounters a number of trials. There are several cameo appearances by the young Jack London before his success as a writer as well as a number of lesser-known characters, some less than savory but all historical, as an informative author's note indicates. This is a real page turner, complete with near-disasters: men driven to madness by their environment and failures, primitive frontier surgery, attacks by moose and bears, poignant moments when the wilderness exacts its price from those who would challenge it-as in the death of Jason's beloved companion, the dog King. Hobbs is right on target, blending fact and fiction to create a believable story that is fast reading but never simplistic. m.m.b.

Will Hobbs is the award-winning author of eighteen novels, including Far North, Crossing The Wire, and Go Big Or Go Home.

Take Me To The River began with the author's week-long canoe trip through the remote Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande on the Texas/Mexico border.

Will's fondness for Texas goes back to his high school years in San Antonio. A graduate of Stanford University, Will lives with his wife, Jean, in Durango, Colorado.