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Home > Reading Comprehension > book reviews > The Rock Jockeys

Book Review: The Rock Jockeys by Gary Paulsen

Title, Author & Publisher:The Rock Jockeys by Gary Paulsen (A Yearling Book)

Length: 56 pages (but they aren't numbered).

Print size: slightly bigger than standard 'novels' - like Stone Fox, not childish-looking.

Plot summary/ other readability issues: Rock Jockeys is one of the "World of Adventure" series. Paulsen's Hatchet is a popular survival story, but is harder to read than it looks and it takes a while for the 'survival' theme to develop, and reluctant and struggling readers lose interest. The World of Adventure books are written for the reader who wants action and risk at a fast pace and may not yet have the skills for a story like Hatchet.

The plot is straightforward and linear and we have three characters to deal with throughout the story. It's three teenage boys against a sheer climb which has never been conquered, with a mystery at the top. This would be a good book for guided independent reading where the student would summarize each chapter as s/he reads. The chapters are short enough so that progress will be fast and a one-sentence summary can do justice to the events of a paragraph.

Climbing terms and information are included at the end of the story -- it might be a good idea to go over them first, or have the students find them as they read.

Typical words: Typical multisyllable/irregular words - you may want to see how many of these words your students can identify before expecting them to read independently.

heavier

designated

equipment

climbers

vanished

believe

shouldered

wrapped

evidence

desperately

responsible

navigator

lieutenant

diary

headlamp

suspiciously

government

helicopter

accidents

carefully

silence

coroner

relief

appreciate

 

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