Cracks [Paperback]

Mike Klaassen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2006

Earthquakes. Caves. Drugs. Murder.

Sixteen-year-old Bodie McCann is on a youth-rehabilitation outing in the vast Ozarks of Arkansas when earthquakes rock the Mississippi River Valley. The adults are killed and Bodie finds himself stuck in the wilderness with four other troubled teens.

Bodie must draw on his survival skills, strength, and resourcefulness to deal with one obstacle after another in an attempt to escape the forest--and the other boys. Along the way, he discovers something about himself and a lot about.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Reading Cracks is so intense you want to put it down, but you can't. It is to gripping a read. Mike Klaassen has written another adventurous, powerful book

Cracks is a book teen boys will relate to, knowing that there is always hope for their future in spite of the direst circumstances.
This book is must read for young people and for counselors leading youth rehabilitation groups.
--Midwest Book Review

When Mike Klaassen couldn't find any books he wanted to read to his sons, he decided to write some.

His books are honest and real in the way teenage boys' lives are honest and real. Sometime's there's violence. Sometimes there's gore. But ultimately, the measure of a man is what he carries inside.

Mike has a special gift for being able to articulate a boy's inner world without being preachy. If you have a teenage boy you'd like to reach--buy two copies. Give one to your son and read the other. Then sit down and talk. You'll be surprised what happens. --Cris DiMarco, Virtual Rock

About the Author

Mike Klaassen is an avid outdoorsman and the father of two teenage boys. He's written two young adult novels for boys: The Brute and Cracks. He lives in Kansas with his family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Blue Works; 1st edition (September 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590921712
• ISBN-13: 978-1590921715
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,363,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How long can you hold your breath?, August 2, 2008

By 

Faith Reese Martin "Author" (Lancaster County, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cracks (Paperback)

Conestoga Courage
The Lost and Found Colony
The Brute

How long can you hold your breath? Long enough to survive a torrent of ice-cold water that drags you under when an earthquake hits while you are deep inside an Ozark Mountain cavern?

That's only the beginning of a rough and tumble adventure that has sixteen-year-old Bodie McCann using every ounce of his courage and survival skills to make it back to civilization alive.

Bodie is on a youth rehabilitation outing as he is given a chance to turn his troubled life around. When earthquakes hit over and over again, killing the adult leaders of the expedition, Bodie and the boys set out to find help.

Bodie soon finds himself at odds with the other boys who have no desire to turn their lives around. They begin to leave a trail of vandalism and death as they hold Bodie a virtual hostage of their gang.

While making his frightful way back, Bodie finds a new feeling of self-respect and self-worth, along with the awesome feeling of unconditional love granted to him by his foster parents.

Mike Klaassen has written a powerful adventure novel for young adults, one that will keep them glued to the book from beginning to end.

By Faith Reese Martin - Author of Lost and Found Colony and Conestoga Courage for Young Adults

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An edge of your chair read!, October 10, 2007

By 

J. Nasse "book lover/educator" (New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cracks (Paperback)

When, while reading Cracks, it gets so intense that one wants to put the book down for a breather. One can't. It is too gripping a read. One natural disaster after another happens to a group of five boys who are deemed potentially rehabitable, but can they be redeemed? Will they survive the disasters as well as the vengeance they reap upon one another?
The boys are taken on a spelunking trip deep into the caves of the remote Arkansas Ozarks. The first earthquake hits while the boys and their leaders are still deep in the caves. They escape only to watch their adult leaders killed in another earthquake causing a landslide to fall on them. The boys are on their own, and the only boy who has some survival skills is Bodie McCann whose foster father had previously taken him camping and fishing. Bodie soon learns that the other four boys savagely sabotage his attempts to help them escape and incessantly fight with one another, though they begrudgingly accept the food he finds and hunts for them.
Matters only get worse as the boys face more earthquakes, forest fires, and then find a cache of marijuana in a hidden mountain cabin. When they ransack another house, Bodie sees his foster parents on the T.V., begging for him to come home. The other boys refuse to let him go, so he has to run for it with them chasing him with guns and knives. Will he escape, get home, and mend his ways? Mike Klaassen has written another adventurous, powerful book. Cracks is a book young boys will relate to, knowing that there is always hope for their future in spite of the direst circumstances. This book is must read for young people and for counselors leading youth rehabilitation groups.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nonstop action and adventure from Mike Klaassen, December 16, 2009

By 

Lionel D. Alford "L. D. Alford" (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cracks (Paperback)

Cracks is a tight adventure novel that delivers nonstop action. If you are a fan of wilderness adventure, you will not want to pass by this strong older teen and young adult novel. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you with a lot to think about.

Bodie McCann is a lost cause and he is starting to figure that out. His life has led him through foster homes and juvenile detention, and his current scrape with the law has put him in a program of rehabilitation for juveniles. That program takes teens and gives them wilderness experiences to help them get their lives together. For Bodie, this experience begins with spelunking, and a major earthquake is just the beginning of his potentially life changing problems.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot because it is a string of adventures that are best read and savored. This novel is hard hitting and doesn't shy away from addressing drug use, human suffering, and youthful cruelty. It is a strong mixture of Lord of the Flies with a Deliverance-like driver. It will appeal to those who like a great read with tense situations. Mike Klaassen can be relied on to give the gritty side of life with a strongly redemptive message--get it.