Loch [Paperback]

Paul Zindel (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Loch and his sister are with their father on a scientific expedition to track lake monsters. Their father's boss, Anthony Cavenger, a ruthless publishing mogul, is determined to prove that the legends are fact. Until now, it has been a fruitless exercise. But suddenly, on a routine exploration, a hideous water beast explodes out of the water, and a photographer, hoping to get the picture of a lifetime, loses his life instead. The plesiosaurs terrorize the secluded lake community, but Loch encounters a baby plesiosaur and realizes that the monsters only attack when threatened. So he risks his life-and the lives of his family and friends-to save the prehistoric creatures from destruction. 1995 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (ALA) 1995 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With its prehistoric quarry and gore-spattered action ("Erdon's last conscious thought was the realization that he was being chewed in half"), Zindel's latest calls to mind a waterlogged version of Jurassic Park. For years, Loch and his spunky younger sister Zaidee have trailed after Dr. Sam, their renowned marine biologist father, as he travels the world searching for behemoths like Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster. Dr. Sam's boss is the wealthy and inexplicably evil Anthony Cavenger, the father of Loch's love interest Sarah, a spoiled but good-hearted clotheshorse saddled with the novel's most inane lines. Exploring a remote Vermont lake, Cavenger and his entourage have a brief but bloody encounter with what seems to be a Plesiosaurus, a fanged cousin of "Nessie." The next day, Loch and his sister meet up with Wee Beastie, a playful infant Plesiosaurus that endears itself to the youngsters with its "otherworldly singing." Determined to protect Wee Beastie and its fearsome kin, Loch, Zaidee and Sarah embark upon a muddled rescue plan that has the dubious virtue of bringing about the slaughter of nearly all the bad guys. The insight and wit of Zindel's best work are conspicuously absent. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9?Zindel draws on his scientific background in this story of Luke Perkins, 15, nicknamed "Loch" after claiming to see a lake monster as a little boy. He and his younger sister, Zaidee, join their oceanographer father on an expedition searching for enormous prehistoric creatures sighted in Lake Alban in Vermont. Their leader, Cavenger, is a ruthless despot who would just as soon annihilate as preserve the Plesiosaurs, water beasts thought to be extinct for over 10 million years. The siblings and Cavenger's daughter befriend Wee Beastie and help it and its family escape to safety; Dr. Perkins, who has been diminished in his own and his childrens' eyes by selling out his ideals in his need for money, redeems himself. The book is really about what makes a family, whether human or creature, as Loch and Zaidee adjust to their mother's death and help their father regain his self-respect. The gruesome attacks by Pleisosaurs on some humans are gory and grisly enough to satisfy even the blood-thirstiest of middle schoolers. Zindel's style capably blends descriptive, figurative language with YA dialogue.?Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (December 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786851503
• ISBN-13: 978-0786851508
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,079,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "This Goes out to Mr. Austin", April 6, 2001

By 

Matt Keenan (Orcas Island, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loch: A Novel (Paperback)

A boy nicknamed loch and his sister zaidee are involuntarily going on an expedition to a Vermont lake to look for modern plesiosaurs with their father, Dr. Sam. Dr. Sam is a marine biologist, and he works for a despicable man named Mr. Cavenger. Loch doesn't think they will find anything, but then, loch discovers a baby Plesiosaur and the knowledge that Cavenger doesn't want to just find the creatures, but kill them. Zindel does a good job in telling an epic adventure with movie-like detail! Loch does have many horror elements to it such as the plesiosaur killing some people and some chilling descriptions of peoples remains being found after one of the dinosaurs were done killing them, but its more of an adventure to save the prehistoric creatures with the main characters, Loch and Zaidee. This is another one of Paul Zindels best works; it is everything that I read a book for. It seems to me that a book that is about sea horror is a lot better than any other book. I would give it 41/2 stars out of 5.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellant horror story., May 28, 2000

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loch: A Novel (Paperback)

Fifteen year old Loch (nicknamed that because he claimed to see the Loch Ness monster during a family trip in Scotland when he was a toddler), his little sister, Zaidee, and his girlfriend, Sarah, join their dads on an expedition to search for a monster in a Vermont lake. While exploring, the three discover a baby monster that appears to be a creature left from prehistoric times. Now they must convince Sarah's father and his crew that the creatures will be harmless if left alone. But the stubborn adults won't listen, and the kids have to save the creatures - and the humans. A suspenseful horror story that I highly reccomend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery, January 7, 2000

By 

jwinter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loch (School & Library Binding)

This book begins with a boy named Loch who for the first time encounters the Lochness Monster when two of the sheep from his herd fall into the lake and get devoured. Then Loch spends the rest of his life looking for the answer to this question. Does the Lochness monster really exsist? You will have to find out for yourselve. It is a really good book and I would recommend this book only to the people who like horror books. Otherwise you would not like this book.