BOOK REPORT TUESDAY

"The Night of the Howling Dogs" by Graham Salisbury
Product Description(Amazon.com)
DYLAN'S SCOUT TROOP goes camping in Halape, a remote spot below the volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The only thing wrong with the weekend on a beautiful, peaceful beach is Louie, a tough older boy. Louie and Dylan just can't get along.
That night an earthquake rocks the camp, and then a wave rushes in, sweeping everyone and everything before it. Dylan and Louie must team up on a dangerous rescue mission. The next hours are an amazing story of survival and the true meaning of leadership.
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (March 24, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440238390
ISBN-13: 978-0440238393

MY THOUGHTS: Have you ever looked in your libraries Junior Fiction section? You should give it try, there are lots of great books there. This is one I found and it's based on a true event that happened on November 29, 1975. The author's cousin was one of those boys camping at Halape, a remote beach campground on the southern flank of Kilauea volcano. This is an a piece taken from the book that the author added at the end of the book. It comes from a newspaper.

Wave heights from the Nov. 29 Tsunami ranged from as low as four feet off Waiakea Peninsula in Hilo to 20 feet at points in Ka'u...There were at least five waves in the series produced by the strong offshore quake, the most intense in Hawaii in more than a century.
--Honolulu Advertiser, Friday, December 12,1975

In this book no was killed, but the real boy scout troup that was there, one of the leaders was killed. I could feel the terror when the quake hit in the middle of the night. The boys were afraid and didn't know what was going on. Boulders and water was coming at them all around. Dylan and Louie started walking out, which was 11 miles over lava flows with no shoes. And did they all get out? You'll have to read the book to find out. Really good book!

MY RATING: 8-12