  | When giants burn Author: Vrabel, Beth | |
| Price: $22.58 | ||
Summary:
Wanting to escape his family life, sixth grader Hayes flies off with his misfit friend Gerty to protect a clonal colony of aspen from a wildfire, but the two quickly realize the importance of everything they tried to leave behind.
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (05/01/23)
Booklist (05/15/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 05/15/2023 In what Vrabel justly characterizes a “Hatchet and Gretel story,” a short hop in a homemade ultralight plane turns into a harrowing ordeal for two sixth-graders feeling betrayed by their parents. Even though his single mom is finally out of prison, Hayes rages at her for deserting him and his little brother, and Gerty, despite losing a baby sister to SIDS, is just finding her balance in school when her survivalist dad announces it’s time to leave. Unwillingly brought together by a savvy school counselor, the two outsiders cement a fragile bond by impulsively heading to Pando, a cloned stand of aspen and one of the oldest and biggest single organisms on Earth, just as a massive forest fire shifts into the region. Readers will be swept along by the intense plot, but the way the author also puts her adult cast through hard tests of character over the course of several frantic days, so that by the end both traumatized families have found pathways to healing, adds a rich layer of emotional satisfaction. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
