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The
Expeditioners
and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon
by S. S. Taylor
TLA Bluebonnet Nominee
Food
is scarce due to massive drought. Off-market grocers (black markets) sell
what products that can be found while the government turns its back on
these illegal sales. The government has taken over all operations including
business and scientific endeavors. Muller machines, earlier known as computers,
have been shut down. All former knowledge and existing maps have been
declared a lie. Only government-trained and enlisted explorers and map-makers
are allowed to draw the New Lands that they discover. Any exotic products
from the New Lands are owned by the government which oversees their distribution.
Alexander
West was a celebrated cartogragrapher and explorer with a wife and three
children. He extended his talent to entertain his youngsters, often creating
treasure maps and puzzles for them to decipher and follow. When their
youngest child, M. K., was born, their mother died in an accident. Then,
West died mysteriously as he explored New Lands. Very little is known
about events surrounding his death, but government agents seized all his
maps that were on display in his home and in the Expeditioner's Society.
Each
of the West kids possess talents of their owns. Kit, his middle child,
had inherited his father's talent for mapmaking, and Zander, his oldest
child, dreamed of following in his father's footsteps and becoming an
explorer. M. K. is a very young, gifted mechanic with a hot temper and
an affinity for weapons and cursing. Their father proudly called them
"The Expeditioners." They had cleverly hidden many of their
father's maps that were still undiscovered by the government.
Shortly
after a scruffy explorer with a clockwork hand thrust a map into Kit's
hand in the market, government agents storm their house to try to find
it. The West kids and their black knight parrot take off, using available
transportation, for the Grand Canyon to find "The Treasure of Drowned
Man's Canyon" that is on their father's map. Along the way they are
joined by a new special explorer-friend named Sukey. They believe their
father's maps are leading them.
Guess
who followed them?
What
amazing devices did their father leave them in their well-equipped explorer's
vests?
Will
the kids survive the treacherous landscapes, vicious wildlife, and giant
slugs? Who can they trust?
How
will they handle the evil government agents who are in hot pursuit?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In The
Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon,
you, too, may experience some real challenges as you try to make sense
of the elusive setting with puzzling references to New Lands which appear
to be part of maps in our modern existing atlases, extinct machines and
the reincarnation of clockwork machines of the 1800s, a secret society,
George Washington's inventions, steam-driven machines, a 400-year old
hidden culture of Native American Southwest cave dwellers who wear long
black Victorian costumes with bowler hats and are led by a kind dicator,
an absence of understanding of knowledge that exists in our time, and
no hint as to how the United States culture crumbled under an all-too
powerful, selfish government that uses its citizens as rungs in a ladder
for their own advancement.
Unfortunately,
*curse words from tough
little M.K., the bad guys, and others punctuate and puncture tense moments,
distracting from some of the most exciting moments.
Otherwise,
it's an exciting story with great characters, harrowing moments, scary
fantasy creatures, evil villians, and cool utilities built into the explorer's
vests. Katherine Roy's stunning full-page pen-and-ink illustrations extend
detail, reinforce the tension, elaborate the settings, describe the action,
and create memorable landmarks in the story.
---------------------------------------------------------
*We
here at Kids Wings would like to have seen the curse words replaced with
the author's clever use of challenging, stimulating, high level adjectives.
We here at Kids Wings suspect that writers add curse words to their stories
in an effort to reach middle school audiences, as if being free to read
and speak such words are a rite of passage rather than a childish cloak
to be shed with age.
*Curse
words used in the story:
"D- - -," 31, 82 (2), 105, 116, 121, 122, 205, 214, 215, 247
(2), 303, 361
"H- - -," 28, 122, 138
"Oh, my G-d," 287, 336
"for C- - - - t's sake," 292
---------------------------------------------------------
Research
Links for
The
Expeditioners
and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon
by S. S. Taylor
Author S. S. Taylor's Webpage
Sarah
Stewart Taylor Website
The
Illustrator
Book
Trailer
Read Chapter One
More
Middle School Literature
------------------------------------------------------------------
With
special thanks to the talented Matthew
Drollinger for allowing us to use his original composition, "Nocturnal
Escape," as our background soundtrack
------------------------------------------------------------------
The
42-page Kids Wings literature guide PLUS interactive Jeopardy-type game,
is perfect for lesson plans, handouts, or projection on your SmartBoard.
This
Kids Wings Activity Guide Contains:
Pre-Reading Discussion Cards
Explorers and Adventurers
Exploring the Cover of the Book as a Word Artist
3-page Readers’ Theater Introduction: The Man with the Clockwork
Hand
Preparing Your Intellectual Tools-Journaling
Vocabulary by Chapters
Vocabulary Tic-Tac-Toe
Making Connections, A Pre- and Post-Reading Discussion Guide
Character Comparisons
What’s Real? What’s Fantasy? Research to Check
Steampunk and Non Sequitir
Prologue - Chapters 1 and 2, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Comprehension
The Puzzling Clues, a Logic Puzzle
Visualizing the Story, Pages 46-93
Characters and Plot, Crossord Puzzle
Raleigh and the Escape, Chapters 18 and 19, Comprehension
Trouble on the Way, Chapters 20-24, Comprehension
Summarizing, Chapters 25-27, Multiple Choice
The Cave: Vehicles of Plot That Move the Story Forward
The Canyon: Vehicles of Plot That Move the Story Forward, 2 pages
The End: Vehicles of Plot That Move the Story Forward
Research CAVES
Discussion and Writing Prompts
Answer Pages
Plus, a BONUS Interactive Jeopardy-type Game
------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon
is included in the Kids Wings Trials
and Courage Collection of literature guides for award-winning novels
and intermediate-level picture books all on one convenient CD. Included
are 848
pages of activities in 22 titles
PLUS 18 "Jeopardy-type"
games!
You can purchase a literature guide individually for around $18.95,
but if you order Trials and Courage Collection,
you can get 29 literature guides for only $25, or less than $1 each!
This is probably the greatest bargain in the USA, as long as quantities
last!
------------------------------------------------------------------
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Award-Winning Books for 2014-2015
*We
would like to have seen the curse words replaced with the author's clever
use of challenging, stimulating, high level adjectives. We here at Kids
Wings suspect that writers add curse words to their stories in an effort
to reach middle school audiences, as if being free to read and speak
such words are a rite of passage rather than a childish cloak to be
shed with age.
*Curse
words used in the story:
"D- - -," 31, 82 (2), 105, 116, 121, 122, 205, 214, 215, 247
(2), 303, 361
"H- - -," 28, 122, 138
"Oh, my G-d," 287, 336
"for C- - - - t's sake," 292
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With special thanks to the talented Matthew
Drollinger for allowing us to use his original composition, "Nocturnal
Escape," as our background soundtrack
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buy
The
Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon
by S. S. Taylor NOW!
---------------------------------------------
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Disclaimer:
The links here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness;
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It is advisable that teachers and parents review all links before allowing
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if you find any inappropriate links.
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SMDisclaimer:
Texas Bluebonnet AwardSM
is a service mark of the Texas Library Association, which is in no way
affiliated with Kids' Wings or Suzy Red. Use of the Texas Bluebonnet
Award mark in these materials does not imply any endorsement of any
kind on behalf of the Texas Library Association. The
Texas Bluebonnet Book Master ListSM
was selected by the Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee
of the Texas Library Association.
© 2014, Suzy
Red, Lockhart, Texas
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