Sparrow Hawk Red

by Ben Mikaelsen and Ben Mikaelsen

Book Overview

When thirteen-year-old Ricky Diaz discovers that his mother was murdered by drug dealers, he's desperate for revenge. But his father, a former drug enforcement agent, refuses the mission the DEA now... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1562823876
• ISBN13: 9781562823870
• Release Date: January 1900
• Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

An exciting adventure review...

Sparrow Hawk Red is a really cool book. I liked it because it had adventure, Spanish, and different countries. Ricky has to make difficult decisions about stealing a plane. He skips school and takes a bus across the border. When there, he has to pretend to be a street kid. He soon finds out that it is difficult to live on the street. He meets someone named Soledad. She helps him to survive. I think you should read this book if you like suspense because the end of each chapter is really "cliff hanging".

A Suspensful book

His mother was killed by drug dealers with a grudge against his dad. Now Ricky is bound to do what his father would not; steal a plane from the drug dealers who killed his mother and return to the United States from Mexico. He has to sneak out of the country on his own and retrieve the stolen plane to get vengance on his mother's death. This book was wonderful. If you like the suspensful, thriller-type books of that genre then this is for you.

Sparrow Hawk Red

I think that Sparrow Hawk Red, By Ben Mikaelson, is an excellent book! Ricki Diaz, a young Mexican-American boy, has recently found out his mother's death wasn't an accident! It was murder! A group of Mexican drug dealers are the suspected murders. The drug dealers have stolen a radar that belongs to the American Government. When Ricki's dad, Benito Diaz, decides not to help get the radar back, Ricki takes matters into his own hands. Ricky Diaz runs away into Mexico pretending to be a ratera (a Mexican street rat) and hashis mind set on stealing back the plane with the radar in it. On his adventure in Mexico he meets a ratero girl named Soledad. Rickli and Soledad do many wild things together. The two get chased by a chef with a huge butcher knife and they eat out of garage cans. In the last moments of Ricki's trip, Ricki pretends to be the taco runner for the men who are guarding the plane. Then he steals the plane. He proved to himself that he isn't a quitter. I give this book five stars because it was a book that I couldn't put down. One part I couldn't stop reading was when he was flying back to the USA and the drug dealers are chasing him! This book has adventure, friendship, and lots of suspense!

Sparrow Hawk Red

I thought the book, Sparrow Hawk Red, was an outstanding book. I mean, I guess I am the kind of person that likes books that keep you suspensful, and wondering what is going to happen next. I would have to give this book five stars. I liked it so much that is why i give it five stars. The setting of this book ranges from (I think) sounthern Arizona and about five to ten miles out of Mexico City. They never really said what city it was in. I am going to tell you the plot of the story so you can get some ideas of why i liked it. The conflict was about Benito Diaz, and his son Ricky Diaz. A souple of years ago Beito used to work for teh DEA. But he sort of quit the DEA after her got a phone call telling him to back off the case or he would be sorry. That was one reason why he quit but that wasnt the main reason. The main reason was because a couple of days after he had gotten that phone call and had not backed off the case, his wife was in a suspicious car accident. At first he thought that it was just any car accident but when the DEA investigated the scene they found her brakes were cut. Benito told Ricky that it was just a car "accident" but one day the DEA came over to tell Beinto and only Benito that the drug people in Mexico had gotten a radar that could detect their radar so they couldn't stop them from dealing drugs. So they asked Benito to help them steal the "biplane" that had the radar in it. And they said that it was in Ranch Cammaro's Ranch, in Mexico. But Benito them brought up his wife dieing in the car accident. He said something like you want me to steal the airplane from them after they already killed my wife. I don't want to leave Ricky all alone if I die. But little did they know Ricky was outside the door listening to all of the conversation. This is most of the plot of the story. Another reason why I liked this book was that it gave really excellent descriptions of the characters and the settings. For example, "A young girls sat crossed-legged in the alley, facing him. Her frayed and baggy dress did not cover her thin, scabby knees. She smiled a nervous, crooked tooth smile and scrapped her bare toes back and forth in the dirt. Some of her teeth were missing. Her age was hard to tell because a flat nose, puffy cheeks, and big ears made her look odd. Tangled hair hung to her shoulders. Several strands dangled over her curious dark eyes." That there was describing a very important girl in the book called Soledad. The way this book eneded was Ricky did get into Rand Cammero's Ranch and he did get a hold of the biplane. But did her make it? I guess the only way for you to know is if you read the book, isn;t it. Believe me it is worth it.

A must-read, read-aloud for middle school students

I am a 6th grade teacher who teaches a 22-day rotation class on flight. Since I have had the opportunity to fly aerobatic planes (my step-dad is a pilot), this book really caught my interest. This is a favorite read-aloud for my students. Many students say that it was the best part of their rotation class and when students come back to visit with me years later, they still remember Ricky and Soledad. When students "beg" you to read "just one more chapter" instead of doing some "cool" flight experiments, you know you have something pretty special.I work hard to teach students how to write using word choices and "voice" that create pictures in the reader's mind. I have chosen Ben Mikaelsen as one of my favorite authors for exemplifying this. When I ask students what they "see" as I read, they can easily describe the feelings that Ricky has about losing a mother and stealing an airplane, along with the spirit and spunk of Soledad. I don't think that you will view "street kids" in the same way after reading SPARROW HAWK RED. As a matter of fact, my students would like to write to Ben Mikaelsen and ask him if he would write a sequel! I am currently preparing to read STRANDED to my Social Studies classes. I am excited to read COUNTDOWN when it becomes available.