Red Kayak (Paperback)

by Priscilla Cummings (Author) "After all this time, I still ask myself: Was it my fault?..." (more)
Key Phrases: red kayak, five compressions, crab pots, Master Williams, Rhode Island, Auntie Janet (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. In this satisfying crime and coming-of-age drama, a toddler drowns in a kayak accident after friends of teenage Brady, the victim's neighbor, vent some anger against the child's dad by drilling holes in the bottom of his craft. It was a mean-spirited prank--but no one was supposed to die. What happens now? Revealing the terrible secret would implicate Brady's friends in the drowning, and it clouds his whole world with guilt and fear. Cummings works plot and characterizations skillfully, building suspense as the evidence unfolds and as Brady wrestles with his decision and tries to come to terms with his own responsibility. Brady's eastern-Maryland surroundings and heritage (his father, a waterman, struggles to make a living from crabbing) are also vividly evoked. Brady's ultimate decision is both anguished and well reasoned, making for a realistic conclusion. Anne O'Malley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
Voices ring with authenticity; the situation is tense and the stakes high . . . . A gem. -- VOYA

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (April 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142405736
• ISBN-13: 978-0142405734
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best adolescent books , November 30, 2006

By	D. Trout-Davidson "literature teacher" (St. Clair, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of the best young adult/teenage novels I have read in a long time. It is well written and spoken like a 14 year old boy. I could not put this book down because I needed to know what happened to all of the characters. I can't wait to read other books by this author.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book, December 11, 2006

A Kid's Review

I am a seventh grader from Seattle, and I read the Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings. I thought it was a good book and I thought I would share my opinion.

It is about a 13-year old named Brady who leads a normal life as a working kid fishing for crabs when a new family, who is quite well off comes into the neighborhood. Tragedy strikes when their red kayak turns over in the bay and causes a tragic accident. Brady, who is on the rescue team and friendly with the family, investigates the cause of the accident, and he doesn't like what he finds.

This book is full of suspense and will keep you hooked from page 1 through the end of the story. It is a very interesting book and I think I would recommend it for people ages 10 and up. I give it four and a half out of 5 stars. It is a must read.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richie's Picks: THE RED KAYAK, October 12, 2004

By	Richie Partington "http://richiespicks.com" (Sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Red Kayak (Hardcover)

"Each must make his life as flowing in
tumbling block or a stepping stone
while common people like you and me
we'll be builders for eternity
each is given a bag of tools
a shapeless mass and the book of rules"
-- Llewellyn/Morgan/Sibbles, "Book of Rules"

"From where we stood, you could see down the grassy slope behind our house, on past Dad's shop and the dock, to the creek. And out there, heading our way, was Mr. DiAngelo's new red kayak."

Brady Parks is a hardworking thirteen-year-old son of a Chesapeake Bay waterman. He and his two longtime friends, Digger and J.T., are waiting for their ride to school one April morning when they see that red kayak go by in the distance.

"Cupping his hands around his mouth, Digger pretended to call out: 'Paddle hard, you sucker!'
"He and J.T. exchanged this look I didn't quite catch, and J.T. started laughing, too.
"But I shook my head. 'He shouldn't be going out there today. When he gets down to the point--he'll fly down the river.' I was sure Mr. DiAngelo didn't know about how the wind picked up once you left our creek and hit the open water. Not to mention the spring tides. Sometimes they were so strong they'd suck the crab pot buoys under. I doubted whether Mr. DiAngelo knew that; he'd only had the kayak a few weeks.
" 'Really, guys. We ought to yell something,' I said soberly."

Although he's quite fond of the man's wife and little boy, Ben, for whom he's baby-sat, Brady and his friends are not fans of Mr. Marcellus DiAngelo, who has bought Digger's grandfather's farm, replaced the old farmhouse with a mansion, and eliminated the boys' access to the surrounding lands where they've always been able to play, and which Digger had always used as a getaway from his abusive dad.

"Sneering, Digger stuffed his hands in his pockets. 'Look Brady, if he's stupid enough to be out there today, he can take what's coming. Besides, he deserves it.' "

So they don't call out a warning.

And then later that morning, when his father comes to take him out of school to assist with search efforts, Brady learns that it was actually Mrs. DiAngelo, taking Ben out for a ride, who had been paddling the red kayak in those frigid waters. Thus begins Brady's moral journey through this action-filled page turner.

Brady's rescue and resuscitation of Ben makes Brady a hero for a day--until Ben dies from the effects of his exposure. Brady's friends distance themselves from him, and he is left alone with the secrets of the trio's actions and inactions.

"My mind sure was drifting. Looking back, I could see there were things we three did that I would never forget. Boy, like the day we were playing ice hockey and I went through the ice on that cow pond. It was Digger who saved my life. I can still see him sprawled toward me, his chin bleeding, his tooth chipped forever, reaching both of his bare, cold hands out to me while I thrashed around in that freezing water and couldn't get a grip because the edges of the ice kept breaking. 'Grab on, Brady! Grab on!' And J.T. in the background, holding Digger's ankles so he wouldn't go down with me."

The long-term process that Brady navigates in his attempts at discovering "the right thing to do" is paralleled by that of Brady's dad. Mr. Parks is seeking a solution to his own problems involving decreasing income due to the dwindling inventories of crabs in the Chesapeake fishery. Dad must decide whether or not to participate in the political actions being organized by his fellow watermen who are calling for less restrictions on their crab harvesting.

"Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure that brings a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets"
--David Bowie/Queen, "Under Pressure"

Another parallel involves the loss by Brady's family--prior to the story--of his little sister Amanda from SIDS. Brady's previous experience makes him quite cognizant of the effect Ben's loss must be having upon Mr. and Mrs. DiAngelo. The pressure within Brady builds as his complicated feelings about guilt and friends and family consume his days and compel him to seek a way out of the dilemma.

"I thought I'd wake up feeling relieved the next morning. Like a weight had been taken off my shoulders because of the action I'd finally taken. But it didn't start out that way, and I wondered while I poked at the scrambled eggs Mom had made whether it was something I just had to get used to first, like a new haircut."

RED KAYAK provides a winning balance between the outdoor action and settings, and Brady's inner turmoil. From the muck on the crab traps to Brady's yellow lab tearing through the tall grass to retrieve a ball, the descriptions brought me gladly back to locales I've previously explored with the likes of Dicey Tillerman and Tunes Smith. Readers will surely be caught up in Brady's story of life and death on the river, as he finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place, while killer currents and dangerous obstacles just under the surface threaten to take him under.