Kalahari by Jessica Khoury - ESSENTIAL

Khoury, Jessica  Kalahari, 354 pages. Scholastic Inc., 2015. $8.00.

Language: PG (18 swears, 0 f); Mature Content: PG 13; Violence: PG.  

When Sarah’s Dad goes looking for poachers, but doesn’t return when he said he would, Sarah, Sam, Avani, Kase, Miranda, and Joey go looking for him.  They battle the scorching heat, dehydration, and starvation.  But they soon discover a disease that’s turning animals silver and provoking them to attack other animals for sport.  And the cure for the silver disease is right in front of their faces.

This book was amazing!  This has to be my absolute favorite book right now.  It drew me in at the very beginning.  The characters had good backstories, and their love interests made it exciting too.  There was a lot of adventure and action, so the story was always moving, or going someplace, never was it slow or boring.  I would have liked to see more love interest between Sarah and Sam, and between Joey and Avani.  I did think that Kase and Miranda were too clingy to each other and Miranda was a whiny brat.  I had no interest in Miranda.  But, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves action, romance, and survival books. It is rated PG for language because of 18 swear words, PG for violence because they fight with a lot with guns, and PG-13 for mature content for some reference to inappropriate things. 

MS - ESSENTIAL Student Reviewer: MV, 7th grade