Red Kayak

by Priscilla Cummings

Book Overview

Brady loves life on the Chesapeake Bay with his friends J.T. and Digger. But developers and rich families are moving into the area, and while Brady befriends some of them, like the DiAngelos, his parents and friends are bitter about the changes. Tragedy strikes when the DiAngelos kayak overturns in the bay, and Brady wonders if it was more than an accident. Soon, Brady discovers the terrible truth behind the kayak s sinking, and it will change the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142405736
• ISBN13: 9780142405734
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

Very good read

I really liked this book, I felt drawn to the characters and think it is an excellent book for children as it shows that even though telling the truth is not always easy, it is the right thing to do. Very serious subject with believable roles. I could see through Brady's eyes and was pulled into the story. I also liked how it showed that even though the boys were friends they had different lives at home.

One of the best adolescent books

This is one of the best young adult/teenage novels I have read in a long time. It is well written and spoken like a 14 year old boy. I could not put this book down because I needed to know what happened to all of the characters. I can't wait to read other books by this author.

Thumbs Up

I started this book for Summer Reading in NH, I was 12 years old when I read this.This book was very adventureous and it was more suspense then mystery. I was so into the book that I wouldn't put down the book. It took me 4-5 days to read it, I wasn't in a rush It was just to good.

A FABULOUS READ

I never do this, but I just picked up this book the other day. I started reading it and could NOT put it down. It was very clever and one of the best novels I have ever read! Five stars well earned in my book!

Richie's Picks: THE RED KAYAK

"Each must make his life as flowing in tumbling block or a stepping stone while common people like you and me we'll be builders for eternity each is given a bag of tools a shapeless mass and the book of rules" -- Llewellyn/Morgan/Sibbles, "Book of Rules" "From where we stood, you could see down the grassy slope behind our house, on past Dad's shop and the dock, to the creek. And out there, heading our way, was Mr. DiAngelo's new red kayak." Brady Parks is a hardworking thirteen-year-old son of a Chesapeake Bay waterman. He and his two longtime friends, Digger and J.T., are waiting for their ride to school one April morning when they see that red kayak go by in the distance. "Cupping his hands around his mouth, Digger pretended to call out: 'Paddle hard, you sucker!' "He and J.T. exchanged this look I didn't quite catch, and J.T. started laughing, too. "But I shook my head. 'He shouldn't be going out there today. When he gets down to the point--he'll fly down the river.' I was sure Mr. DiAngelo didn't know about how the wind picked up once you left our creek and hit the open water. Not to mention the spring tides. Sometimes they were so strong they'd suck the crab pot buoys under. I doubted whether Mr. DiAngelo knew that; he'd only had the kayak a few weeks. " 'Really, guys. We ought to yell something,' I said soberly." Although he's quite fond of the man's wife and little boy, Ben, for whom he's baby-sat, Brady and his friends are not fans of Mr. Marcellus DiAngelo, who has bought Digger's grandfather's farm, replaced the old farmhouse with a mansion, and eliminated the boys' access to the surrounding lands where they've always been able to play, and which Digger had always used as a getaway from his abusive dad. "Sneering, Digger stuffed his hands in his pockets. 'Look Brady, if he's stupid enough to be out there today, he can take what's coming. Besides, he deserves it.' " So they don't call out a warning. And then later that morning, when his father comes to take him out of school to assist with search efforts, Brady learns that it was actually Mrs. DiAngelo, taking Ben out for a ride, who had been paddling the red kayak in those frigid waters. Thus begins Brady's moral journey through this action-filled page turner. Brady's rescue and resuscitation of Ben makes Brady a hero for a day--until Ben dies from the effects of his exposure. Brady's friends distance themselves from him, and he is left alone with the secrets of the trio's actions and inactions. "My mind sure was drifting. Looking back, I could see there were things we three did that I would never forget. Boy, like the day we were playing ice hockey and I went through the ice on that cow pond. It was Digger who saved my life. I can still see him sprawled toward me, his chin bleeding, his tooth chipped forever, reaching both of his bare, cold hands out to me while I thrashed around in that freezing water and couldn't get a grip because the edges of the ice kept breaking