BOOKS
Created: 20th February, 2018

The Explorer

Author: Katherine Rundell
Illustrator: Hannah Horn
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Four children survive a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest. How will they cope?

Adventure stories where the adults are conveniently dispatched is a recurrent theme in children’s literature but in Katherine Rundell’s skilful hands, this is no conventional tale of intrepid boys and girls. The characters of schoolboy Fred and Con (‘’It’s short for Constantia, but if you call me that I’ll kill you.’’) are especially well fleshed out as they are called on to draw deeply on their inner resources. However, are they alone in the forest?

This book is a beautifully crafted object with its colourful cover, well-spaced typeface and Hannah Horn’s black and white illustrations, depicting the flora and fauna and homing in on individual insects as chapter dividers.