Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Eleven-year-old Orion lives with his stodgy grandfather in eastern Maine, where nothing exciting ever happens. But then a series of strange events draws him into the mystery of a lost explorer, and Orion is swept up in a whirlwind of adventure that takes him to the top of the world. To survive he must outwit a scheming treasure hunter, team up with a gang of flimps, and take on a tyrant with an anger management problem. Can Orion solve the mystery and get back home alive? And just what are flimps, anyway?
Orion Poe is about to find out. Join him as he laughs, cries, bluffs, and shoots his way to the heart of one of the greatest mysteries in the history of exploration. Along the way he discovers that the world is far bigger-and stranger-than he ever imagined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Summerhouse draws on the real-life historical mystery of Sir John Franklin's lost Arctic exploration to fuel this fast-paced middle-grade adventure. After 11-year-old Orion Poe helps a wounded stranger who appears on the beach near his grandfather's lighthouse, he winds up in possession of an old dispatch box, in which he finds a mysterious map. After taking the map to Professor Meriwether, an explorer, Orion is invited to join an expedition to the Arctic, in search of an uncharted island and Franklin's final fate. The trip is plagued by troubles, and Orion fights for his life against the hostile environment, a traitor among the crew, and a hidden society whose members are bent on maintaining their secret existence at all costs. Summerhouse delivers a rousing story filled with action and tense moments, but Orion's idiosyncratic voice lightens the overall tone. As a protagonist, Orion is a bit too good to be true overly resourceful and resilient, and subject to enough death-defying circumstances to lay low people twice his age but most young readers should find it easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. Ages 9 up.
