Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith

Tired of (fill in the blank: work, school, suburbia) or just want to experience a wild adventure in an exotic location? Try Roland Smith’s Cryptid Hunters, a junior fiction novel that is part travel narrative, part sibling story, and part Jurassic Park minus the chewed-off arms – although man-eating crocodiles do make frequent appearances.

The 13-year-old O’Hara twins are so dissimilar that they don’t even seem to belong to the same family. Quiet Grace is tiny and bookish, smarter than a computer and fond of writing in her huge collection of journals. Impish Marty is a daredevil adventurer, with a talent for gourmet cooking and survival tactics and a genius for causing trouble at the prep school at which they are both enrolled. When their parents, travelling photojournalists, are reported missing after a helicopter crash, the stunned twins are hurriedly bundled off to the care of their mysterious uncle Wolfe, who lives on an uncharted island and is obsessed with searching for cryptids: rare animals like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster whose very existence is questionable. Wolfe, however, can’t spare much time for socializing with his niece and nephew – he is absorbed in a hunt for dinosaurs amidst the mysterious African jungles. After an accident strands Grace and Marty in the Congo, they become more involved in their uncle’s quest than they ever expected to be. Fighting off everything from mosquitos to giant crocodiles to the henchmen of Wolfe’s cold-blooded nemesis Dr. Blackwood, the twins discover their hidden strengths as well as several startling family secrets.

          Cryptid Hunters is a well-paced, humorous, and engaging story that incorporates enough adventurous elements to be highly gripping, but also contains enough research and judicious detail to encourage suspension of disbelief. The story also contains a great example of sibling relationships in the interaction between Grace and Marty, who tease, prank, and often frustrate each other, but who also appreciate each other’s differences and champion each other’s desires and interests. This action-filled tale is an especially good choice for reluctant readers; boys especially will be drawn to the intrepidity of Marty, although girls will also follow Grace’s exploits with enthusiasm. Smith’s series continues with Tentacles and Chupacabra.