Damage Control

April 30, 2012
At the start of Thriller Award–finalist Gilstrap’s rousing fourth novel featuring hostage rescue specialist Jonathan Grave (after 2011’s Threat Warning), Grave and his partner, Boxers, set out to save four adults and six teens ages 15 to 17, part of a church group that went to Mexico ostensibly to help with earthquake recovery, who have now been held for five days by kidnappers who seized their bus in Ciudad Juarez and are demanding a $3 million ransom. Grave and Boxers succeed in killing five kidnappers who step outside the bus in a jungle ambush, but they can’t stop someone inside the bus from shooting dead all but one of the hostages, teen Tristan Wagner. Grave, Boxers, and Tristan flee for their lives, sought by officials in Mexico and denounced by law enforcement in the U.S. Meanwhile, a CIA traitor back home tries to ensure Grave and crew don’t survive. Readers will anxiously await the next installment. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins and Associates.

August 10, 2009
This tribute to the author’s second-grade teacher will resonate with those who struggle with reading. “I didn’t like school. I didn’t like sitting still. I didn’t like reading. And I didn’t
like Miss Little.” Wood’s (Nothing to Do
) story takes place during one of his numerous after-school sessions with Miss Little, who worked tirelessly “to help me learn how much fun
reading could be.” Just as an unfocused student strays from a task, diversions from the classroom setting flesh out some of Wood’s life outside of school, e.g., his playground troubles or trips to a Minnesota lake. Burke (Naming Liberty
) keeps his realistic oil paintings fresh with various perspectives, giving readers a bird’s-eye view of the classroom’s checkerboard floor or Wood’s view of the book he’s laboring to read, The Little Island
by Margaret Wise Brown. A poignant final scene describes the author sending a copy of his first book, Old Turtle
, to an elderly Miss Little, shown smiling and clutching it to her chest. Endnotes discuss how the author copes with his diagnosis of ADHD. Ages 4–7.