Rescue of Josh McGuire by Ben Mikaelsen, Ben Mikaelson, Mikaelsen

I'm a 6th Grade Student in Glendale, AZ who highly recommends this book if you like adventure!by Anonymous

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November 30, 2008: Rescue Josh McGuire by Ben Mikaelsen is a fantastic story because it is full of adventure and emotion. It deals with real life problems. The story takes place in present time in the mountains of Montana.

Josh is the protagonist in the story. His father Sam is an alcoholic, ever since Josh?s older brother died in a car accident several years ago. Otis is their older neighbor who is an environmentalist. Pokey is a bear cub that Josh is trying to save. Mud Flap is Josh?s dog who helps Josh and Pokey throughout the adventure.

Josh?s dad kills a mother bear leaving a cub behind that Josh rescues. Josh decides to run away with Pokey, when he finds out scientists are going to use him for testing, and Pokey would probably die. He takes his brother?s dirt bike carrying Pokey and Mud Flap up into the mountains leaving a note for his parents. Josh plans on staying there until the law changes about hunting bear in the spring. They end up in a motorcycle accident. Josh and Mud Flap get badly hurt. Pokey stays with them and keeps them warm. The authorities in Montana are worried and out looking for Josh. In the end, Pokey goes to an animal shelter where Josh gets to still take care of him. Josh goes to Washington with Otis to lobby for no more killing bear in the spring.

This story shows that running away from problems doesn?t help. It can even be dangerous. It would have been better if Josh felt he could talk to his dad without him getting mad. He also could have talked to Otis about what he could do to save the cub.

I could relate to Josh?s adventure in the mountains from the backpacking I have done in the mountains of Oregon. I also related to falling off a dirt bike and how easily you can get badly hurt. When Pokey snuggled with Josh during the cold night, it reminded me of how my dog likes to snuggle at night with me.

I Also Recommend: Touching Spirit Bear, Hatchet (Brian's Saga Series #1).

A reviewerby Anonymous

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October 12, 2007: Josh and his dad go hunting a lot, and Josh had a brother that was older but he died .he died so now he likes to drink a lot. One day when hunting his dad shot a bear. It turns out that it was a mother bear and Sam his dad told josh not to tell after they find the bear cub and they catch it. Josh takes care of it for two day?s and a least until his dad tell they found it in the wood and so the government is going to do lab tests with the cub and it will hurt the cub too. Then because of that he runs away on his brother?s motorcycle. He goes when his mom and dad go over to one of there friends houses. He takes the cud and puts him in the front in a five gallon bucket. His dog Mudflap follows him because the motorcycle only goes 40 miles per hour. Then josh struggles for survival. The things that I love about the book is that it is a big adventure for struggle and that you can never guess what it going to happen next and that is only one thing that I liked in the whole story. Another thing that I like is that it is that it as hunting in it and that it has a lot of mean and nice animals in it. It even has how to feed a bear in it. One thing that I don?t like is that it has a mean dad that don?t care for his son that much and likes to drink a lot.