Surviving Moose Lake

Surviving Moose Lake (Kids vs. Nature Book 1)
Written by Karl Steam
Illustrated by Joshua Lagman
Published May 24, 2018

Why I chose this book:
I was contacted by the author, who provided a review copy. I do not accept all review requests, but this one piqued my interest; sixth grade students are pulled out of the classroom and into nature. I am a retired sixth grade teacher who loves being outside and recognizes the importance of kids' outdoor play and exploration.

Review:
Surviving Moose Lake is narrated by sixth-grade Josh. He and three classmates have the task of identifying various leaves during a science lab. When one of them downloads a free phone app in order to cheat on the task, the app magically transports them out of the classroom and into the forest. They are tasked with finding and "shooting" a moose before the app will return them to the classroom. After a rough start, the children learn to work together, observe their surroundings, and take a shot of a moose they find with the camera feature in the app. They are returned to the same moment they left the classroom, and the book ends with a setup for the subsequent installment in the series.

This middle-grade novel has short chapters and several pictures, making for a comfortable reading experience for those adjusting to chapter books. The premise reminded me somewhat of Hero.com, but this is more believable and uses current technology, so will likely have high appeal; the use of conversational tone make for easy reading while presenting some information about moose. Further factual information is included in the back. I mention that I found this believable - I could easily imagine some of my former students confronting the difficulties as the characters did, overcoming preconceived notions, thinking critically and creatively about their problems, and working as a team to achieve a goal.

This is a fun adventure, though there were two aspects that I wasn't keen on: an overweight student is bullied and called "the Blob" as bystanders watch, and the term "spaz" is used derogatorily. Both instances are authentic to grade school, and perhaps I am being overly sensitive, but I would have liked to see a defense of the bullied child, and I am not keen on normalizing epithets derived from medical conditions. On the other hand, this would be a good starting point for a very positive conversation about bullying and respect for physical differences. Despite my discomfort with those two small items, I enjoyed reading the book; it's fun and funny, and the adventure is exciting while remaining believable (if an app could actually transport you, that is!).