Friday, September 6, 2013

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

It certainly has been a very busy week in Youth Services. While putting away the summer stuff and making new displays for back-to-school, we’ve had four classes from the Middle School visit for a tour and book talks, Connie’s Bookworms Book Club met for the first time Wednesday, and Lauren and I are planning our first Teen Advisory Meeting of the year (it meets next week Tuesday). Add to that the children, over the age of 10, who come to the Library after school. I tell you, "the joint is jumpin'."

Yet, with all the activity, I still found time to read a book!

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt.
Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn is worried. He’ll do anything to save the swamp he loves, Bayou Touterelle, from being developed into a theme park. (Complete with a female world-class alligator wrestler, Jaeger Stitch). Read how Chap, two raccoons, and the ancient Sugar Man save their swamp. Add to the plot the search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, the Lord God Bird. If Chap could prove the thought-to-be-extinct bird still inhabits the swamp, he knows he could save Bayou Torterelle. Told from multiple voices, this wild romp begins slowly, but picks up speeds as it races towards the final conclusion.







Appelt is the author of numerous books, including The Underneath, a 2009 Newbery Honor book.

Pair The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp with The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Portland, Maine writer, Phillip Hoose.

Go here to listen to an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.