Panther Glade

Children's Literature - Deborah Zink Roffino

For stronger readers, this story features rich, full characters, heart-pounding tension and a satisfying resolution. Young Bill accompanies his archeologist aunt on a dig to a Calusa burial mound in Florida. His discovery of a small artifact believed to have great powers sends him on a solitary journey to learn the foundation of the legend. Mystery stalkers are lured by this sort of dark and menacing adventure in the wilderness.

The ALAN Review - Susanne L. Johnston

Bill Carven is stuck in Florida for the summer while his parents are on a business trip in Europe. He has to help his Great Aunt Cait, an archaeologist, dig for Calusa artifacts at an ancient burial mound. He would rather watch TV than spend every day outside among snakes and scorpions, but his initial reluctance gives way to enthusiasm as he learns about the legend of the cat-god and other Calusa myths. When Bill is forced to confront his fears alone in the Everglades, as young Calusa did in the past, he finds inner strength and peace. Cavanagh's engrossing story, with rich descriptions of Florida and its natural history, is appropriate for younger readers who enjoy adventure. However, the book deals extensively with spiritual beliefs and legends of the Calusa. While myths are presented in a nondidactic manner, they could be offensive to some readers.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-- Bill's parents are off traveling for the summer and they've abandoned him to the custody of an eccentric aunt he barely knows. She's an archaeologist studying an ancient Indian tribe on a tropical island in the Gulf of Mexico right near the Everglades. Bill is an insecure wimp of a kid who's afraid of insects, spiders, snakes, alligators, panthers, smart girls; in fact, he's afraid of just about anything that moves, even the trees. But the boy is willing to make the best of things, and his Aunt Cait's spirit and intelligence begin to rub off on him as he absorbs information about the Calusa Indians and the Florida wilderness. Bill's growth, encouraged all the way by his precocious new friend Annie, is slow and steady, until he has a brief, climactic, and mystical survival adventure. Characters tend to be caricatures, and the story lacks both the emotional depth of Helen Griffith's Foxy (Greenwillow, 1984) and the absolute immersion into the Florida wilderness that Jean Craighead George achieves in The Cry of the Crow (1980) and The Talking Earth (1983, both HarperCollins). Still, there are solid and fascinating Indian facts here, and an exciting conclusion. --Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Susan DeRonne

Bill's parents send him to spend the summer in Florida with his great-aunt Cait, an eccentric archaeologist who can't even find her TV. She expects him to make his own bed and help with simple chores, but Bill is much more concerned with avoiding rattlesnakes, scorpions, and mosquitoes. Aunt Cait introduces Bill to the legends of the Calusa Indians and takes him to a dig where she's working. He makes an important find and gets caught up in the lore of the Key Marco cat-god. As the summer progresses, Bill meets Aunt Cait's strange friends. While he continues to be afraid of the Everglades and alligators, he comes to appreciate the Indian history and crafts, and forgets all about missing his TV shows and videos. When he gains enough confidence to take a rowboat out alone one afternoon, a sudden storm strands him overnight on an island where he must face the objects of his fears. The story of his night alone and subsequent rescue contains a neatly foreshadowed leap to the supernatural, as Bill, with the help of ancient spirits, learns to trust in himself.