 | Quest for Z : the true story of explorer Percy Fawcett and a lost city in the Amazon Author: Pizzoli, Greg | |
| Price: $6.50 | ||
Summary:
The true story of the British explorer Percy Fawcett, who set out on a doomed expedition to find a lost city in the Amazon jungle.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: LG Reading Level: 6.80 Points: .5 Quiz: 190036 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 3-5 Reading Level: 10.80 Points: 2.0 Quiz: 71679 | |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (04/15/17)
School Library Journal (04/01/17)
Booklist (04/15/17)
The Hornbook (00/07/17)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 04/01/2017 Gr 2–5—Percy Fawcett dreamed of being an explorer from the time he was a young child in the 1860s; the accounts of his explorer father and brother fueled his enthusiasm. Even his stint in the British Army in Sri Lanka afforded him the opportunity to investigate local jungles. On Fawcett's return home, he began training through the Royal Geographical Society, learning, for instance, which plants were poisonous and which were not. The Society hired him to map areas of Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru, including some of the most dangerous regions of the Amazon rain forest. Fawcett kept coming home safe and finding a new trip to lead. Throughout, he heard rumors of a fantastic ancient city reportedly deep in the Amazon area, a ruin he wanted to locate. So off he went in April 1925, with his 21-year-old son and another young man. Fawcett sold his story to a newspaper and promised regular reports so the papers could bring "live" news to their readers. This offering is for daring readers who prefer nonfiction: there's an unknown explorer to pique their interest, great back matter to demonstrate how to deepen their research, and Pizzoli's clever, humorous illustrations. However, this is very much a tale of British colonialism and will likely need to be supplemented with further discussions. VERDICT A swashbuckling adventure for large elementary school and nonfiction collections.—Dorcas Hand, formerly at Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 04/15/2017 Before the recent innovation of satellite imaging, many regions of the world were shrouded in mystery. One such place was a rumored ancient city, called Z, buried deep in the Amazon rain forest, and, in 1925, British explorer Percy Fawcett endeavored to find it. In his signature blocky art style, Pizzoli offers an engaging biography of the enterprising Fawcett, from his early dreams of adventure to his career charting regions of South America, all culminating in the expedition to find the city of Z, from which he would never return. The soft figures composed of geometric shapes in flat colors give the story a playful feel despite the unfortunate end of its subject, and occasional historical photos and sidebars with facts about the Amazon and early twentieth-century exploration add lots of concrete context. Admirably, Pizzoli notes that most explorers never actually discovered anything; they merely took credit for finding places indigenous groups led them to. With a focus on mystery, peril, and adventure, this inviting biography should easily pique the curiosity of the elementary-school set. - Copyright 2017 Booklist.
