Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold (Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency #1) by Iain Reading
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Action, Adventure
Release Date: December 2012
Buy Links:
Amazon
Book Description:
Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the thrilling first installment in a new series of adventure mystery stories that are one part travel, one part history and five parts adventure. This first book of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series introduces Kitty Hawk, an intrepid teenage pilot with her own De Havilland Beaver seaplane and a nose for mystery and intrigue. A cross between Amelia Earhart, Nancy Drew and Pippi Longstocking, Kitty is a quirky young heroine with boundless curiosity and a knack for getting herself into all kinds of precarious situations.
After leaving her home in the western Canadian fishing village of Tofino to spend the summer in Alaska studying humpback whales Kitty finds herself caught up in an unforgettable adventure involving stolen gold, devious criminals, ghostly shipwrecks, and bone-chilling curses. Kitty's adventure begins with the lingering mystery of a sunken ship called the Clara Nevada and as the plot continues to unfold this spirited story will have armchair explorers and amateur detectives alike anxiously following every twist and turn as they are swept along through the history of the Klondike Gold Rush to a suspenseful final climatic chase across the rugged terrain of Canada's Yukon, the harsh land made famous in the stories and poems of such writers as Jack London, Robert Service and Pierre Berton. It is a riveting tale that brings to glorious life the landscape and history of Alaska's inside passage and Canada's Yukon, as Kitty is caught up in an epic mystery set against the backdrop of the scenery of the Klondike Gold Rush.
Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is a perfect book to fire the imagination of readers of all ages. Filled with fascinating and highly Google-able locations and history this book will inspire anyone to learn and experience more for themselves as Kitty prepares for her next adventure - flying around the world!
Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold, book one of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Series for young adult readers, is exactly the kind of story I would have enjoyed as a teenager and one that I will purchase for the young adult readers in family.
As with many books that I review, there are things that I love about this book and things that I didn’t care for as much.
The story seemed a bit confusing for me in the beginning and I felt that a few things could have been left out of the first quarter of the book, but it didn’t take long before I was engrossed in Kitty’s adventures as she travels to Juneau, Alaska for research on humpback whales. The story took off once Kitty is kidnapped by four brothers transporting stolen gold across the Chilkoot Pass.
Even though Kitty’s inner voice annoyed me at first, it grew on me the more that I read.
The author does an excellent job with vivid descriptions, which makes you feel as you are experiencing the sights, sounds, and adventure along with the characters. The characters are very likable, and I hope that readers get to see more of Charlie and his brothers in future stories.
One more thing that I enjoyed about Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the lack of foul language, violence, and sexual content.
As I stated at the beginning of my review, this is the type of story I would have enjoyed as a young adult reader, but it also one I enjoyed as a seasoned adult reader. I look forward to introducing this series to other readers in my family.
Author Bio:
I like Root Beer.
For me there is no other beverage that is quite as magical and mysterious and inexplicably smooth as a cold mug of Root Beer.
From the very first sip this enchanting brew tingles your palette with a plethora of blissful sensations and slides slippery cool down into your stomach as it warms your heart. And don't even get me started talking about that sublime frothy icy mess that we call a Root Beer Float.
When I was younger I fancied myself a bit of a Root Beer connoisseur, drinking my favourite brand A&W from tall, narrow champagne flûtes where the ice clinking against the side of the thin glass created a magical tinkling ambiance as I looked down my nose at all the other inferior Root Beer vintages.
As I grew older and began to travel across the globe I naturally was inclined to seek out the very best Root Beers that the world had to offer. Surely somewhere deep in some ancient temple in the heart of the Mongolian desert there was a hitherto unknown type of Root Beer brewed by a secretive order of monks using ancient methods passed down through generations.
I read this aloud to two of my kids. My 10 yr old son LOVED it! We're reading the second book aloud now. :)
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