My Near-Death Adventures (99% True!)
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
For history lovers and journal fans comes a “hilarious and heartbreaking . . . 99–100% fantastic” (A Fuse #8 Production, School Library Journal) story about a boy on a mission to find his long-lost father in the logging camps of Michigan.
There are many things that 11-year-old Stanley Slater would like to have in life—most of all, a father. But what if Stan’s missing dad isn’t “dearly departed” after all?
Armed with his stupendous scrapbook, full of black-and-white 19th-century advertisements and photos, Stan’s attempt to locate his long-lost hero/cowboy/outlaw dad is a near-death adventure fraught with pesky relatives, killer lumberjacks, and poisonous pies! His tale will leave readers in stitches, but not the kind that require medical attention.
Praise for My Near-Death Adventures (99% True!)
“A knee-slapper of a debut featuring a narrator who is rather less than 99 percent reliable but 100 percent engaging.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[An] exuberant first novel.” —Publishers Weekly
“Stan’s story is full of his hilarious misunderstandings and overactive imagination. Interspersed throughout are pictures and news clippings embellished with wisecrack remarks, speech bubbles, and the occasional mustache.” —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1895 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, DeCamp's exuberant first novel introduces 11-year-old Stan Slater who, readers quickly come to realize, is unknowingly vocalizing some of his rambling thoughts and wild imaginings, saying aloud things better kept to himself. Once readers acclimate to this narrative quirk, they'll easily become invested in Stan's story, which begins with him learning that the father he thought was dead is actually just a deadbeat. (Stan, however, remains "pretty sure he's a rich cowboy or exploring the wilds of North Pole, unable to contact us because of life-or-death matters.") Because of the family's precarious financial situation, Stan, his mother, and his acerbic Granny move to a remote logging camp, where Stan becomes convinced a lumberjack named Stinky Pete is a "cold-blooded killer," clashes with his cousin Geraldine, and is intensely displeased by his mother's suitors. Vintage images with irreverent captions (ostensibly taken from Stan's scrapbook) and imagined letters from Stan's absent father pepper the pages, adding another layer of comedy to Stan's freewheeling narration. Ages 8 12.
