Wild Man Island [Hardcover]

Will Hobbs (Author)

Book Description

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

The land was slipping away,
the wind was howling,
and I was in a world of trouble.

0n the last day of a sea kayak trip in southeast Alaska, fourteen-year-old Andy Galloway paddles away from the group. He's on a mission of the heart. His father, an archeologist, died only a few miles away. A sudden gale propels Andy across the strait. He swims ashore, freezing and barefoot, onto Admiralty Island, an immense wilderness of forests, rain, and bears.

When hope of rescue fades, Andy starts walking. Starvation leads him further into the wild and into danger. He encounters a dog running with wolves, and later a man dressed in cedar-bark clothing, carrying a stone-tipped spear. The Wild Man vanishes into the forest, but the dog reappears and leads Andy to ... the Wild Man's lair, at the mouth of a cave.

It's fear that drives Andy into the cave and to the adventure of a lifetime. What's at stake are the discoveries Andy's father died trying to find, the answers to the most exciting puzzle in American archeology -- who were the first Americans?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Will Hobbs's wilderness adventure novels will welcome his Wild Man Island. Its hero, 14-year-old Andy Galloway, kayaks his way through an Alaskan strait and ends up on Admiralty Island on a quest inspired by the death of his archeologist father.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-Set in contemporary Alaska, this adventure yarn follows 14-year-old Andy as he nears the safe conclusion of a guided sea kayaking trip with the nagging thought that he ought to visit the nearby site of his father's accidental death nine years earlier. Sneaking off from the group on the last day, he is soon blown away by a nasty storm. Washed ashore on wild and remote Admiralty Island, he faces starvation, food poisoning, cold, bears, wolves, and the mysterious bearded giant of a man he calls "the Wild Man." Neatly tying together strands of the plot involving his archaeologist father's theories about the early exploration and settlement of North America with episodes that involve caving, wildlife, and a huge Newfoundland dog, Hobbs resolves the story's complexities in ways that protect the characters' integrity and, to a large extent, readers' need for credibility. The author's note explains the mixture of personal experience and collected facts and fictions on which the book hangs in such a way that interested readers might well be persuaded to speculate about the theories posited or investigate those theories with additional research of their own.
Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (April 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688174736
• ISBN-13: 978-0688174736
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,576,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

WILL HOBBS is the author of eighteen exciting outdoor adventure novels for upper elementary, middle school and young adult readers, as well as two picture book stories. Seven of his novels have been named Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and Ghost Canoe, Will's first mystery, won the Edgar Allan Poe national award for Best Young Adult Mystery. The ALA's list of the "100 Best Young Adult Books of the 20th Century" includes two of Will's titles: Far North and Downriver.

A graduate of Stanford University and a former reading and language arts teacher, Will lives with his wife, Jean, in Durango, Colorado. Visit Will's website at www.willhobbsauthor.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can Andy Survive Alone On The Island?, April 18, 2005

By 

a student (Versailles, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Man Island (Paperback)

This book was written by Will Hobbs, who's also written Down the Yukon, Jason's Gold, The Maze, Ghost Canoe, and Far North. The story is about a boy who's father was an archeologist. Years ago Andy's father was on a trip in Alaska trying to find evidence of the firs people in north America. He was with another person but he slipped and fell. Now Andy was in Alaska looking for the Island that this father had died on. He's on a kayaking trip with a group of people but during a storm Andy is swept way off course and lands on what seems to be a deserted island. Until he sees a mysterious man with wild looking beard and dressed in bark and animal skins. Andy decides to find out who the man really is while trying to survive wind, rain, and mind numbing cold, along with the local grizzly bears.
One of the strong points of this book is the suspense. There's always twisted that keep you reading and wanting to find out what happens next. The book also seems really realistic. Will Hobbs seems to know a lot about the outdoors and surviving and you can tell in the way he writes this book. I've never read any of his other books but after this one I think that I would enjoy another of his books.
There was one thing that I didn't like about this book was that there wasn't really a whole lot of action. There was plenty of suspense, like I said before but the suspense was more from the plot and not from something that is physically happening to Andy. He never really gets in any fights or any action like that. Otherwise this book was great and I would recommend it to anyone who likes outdoors books.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stranded, May 5, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Wild Man Island (Paperback)

For my Amazon Book Review, I read the book Wild Man Island. It is about 14-year old Andy Galloway taking a trip to Alaska with a group to see the amazing humpback whales. One night, while the tour guides are asleep, he sneaks out and kayaks to the island where his father died trying to solve the mystery of the first Americans, and of course to see the whales in action. But on the way back, he gets caught in a storm, which takes him to Admiralty Island. What he doesn't know, however, is that there is a man on the deserted island who could help him, and with the help of his dog, Bear, leads Andy to a cave where danger, suspense, and mystery await him.

The author has written the book in such a descriptive way, it takes the reader into Andy's adventure: the woods, the amazing cave explanation, the wild man. It is amazing! All the details and explanations were so well written, it was like a mini movie in my head imagining what happens next in the story. But in all books, there are parts you don't like. I didn't really like the fact that there were so many details about what Andy thinks, I felt like skipping pages when some chapters were like that. Some of the information was too much.

I like Wild Man Island, because there is danger, excitement, and mystery waiting for me to read in every page. When I first read this book, I couldn't put the book down. It was so thrilling, I finished the book in two days. I thought to myself, this is an exciting book from the first page to the last. Every chapter I read kept
getting more and more mysterious and suspenseful. I rate this book with five stars. I recommend this book to all readers who like adventure and excitement all in one.

"Descriptions of woods, wildlife, and the spectacular cave formations Andy discovers have a ring of authenticity that makes his hardships and adventures as compelling as any of Gary Paulsen's." --- Kirkus Reviews

" A well- paced adventure, this novel combines survival saga, mystery, and archeological expedition.... Hobbs's renown ensures the popularity of his latest effort."---- VOYA

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wild Man Island, September 6, 2010

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Man Island (Kindle Edition)

I really liked how this book was able to keep you on the edge of your seat while giving you interesting history lessons,