Jungle of Bones

Jungle of Bones

Lost and alone in the jungle, one boy will have to let go of his assumptions and anger, or be dragged down with them. Dylan Barstow has finally crossed the line. After getting caught on a late-night joyride in a stolen car, Dylan is shipped off to live with his ex-Marine uncle for the summer. But Uncle Todd has bigger plans for Dylan than push-ups and early-morning jogs. Deep in the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, there's a WWII fighter plane namedSecond Ace that's been lost for years, a plane that Dylan's own grandfather barely escaped from with his life. In all this time, no one has ever been able to track downSecond Ace - but now Dylan and his uncle are going to try. Lush and haunted, vital and deadly, these alien jungles half a world away could mean Dylan's salvation, or they could swallow him whole. "Reverent in tone, Mikaelsen's novel offers harrowing accounts of veterans' war experiences that are brought home by Dylan's struggles, both in the jungle and in everyday life. Only after confronting isolation, poisonous snakes, and crippling hunger does Dylan truly understand the value of freedom and his own capacity for change." -Booklist , February 1, 2014  Ben Mikaelsen has won the International Reading Association Award and the Western Writers Golden Spur Award. His novels have won critical acclaim, as well as several state reader's choice awards. These novels include Rescue Josh McGuire , Sparrow Hawk Red , Stranded , Countdown , Petey , and Touching Spirit Bear .  Ben's articles and photos appear in numerous magazines around the world. Ben and his wife, Connie, live in a log cabin near Bozeman, Montana, and they adopted a 700-pound black bear that they raised for 27 years.