Eric Walters - Seven Prequels Bundle

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ivaluecanadianstories.ca

by Eric Walters

by John Wilson

by Ted Staunton

by Richard Scrimger

by Norah McClintock

by Sigmund Brouwer

by Shane Peacock

PRAISE FOR BETWEEN HEAVEN
AND EARTH FROM SEVEN (THE SERIES)

Richly detailed and satisfying. Kirkus Reviews

A fantastic story that will capture the attention of young readers and keep them engaged until the last pageHighly Recommended. CM Magazine

Strikingly realistic.

YALSA YA Galley Teen Review

PRAISE FOR SLEEPER
FROM THE SEVEN SEQUELS

Flashy, quick and fun. Quill & Quire

A fast-paced, enjoyable entre to this mystery/ adventure series. Kirkus Reviews

The setting is vibrant, and the thrills are a mile-a-minuteHighly Recommended. CM Magazine

JUNGLE
LAND

ERIC WALTERS

ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

Copyright 2016 Eric Walters

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Walters, Eric, 1957, author
Jungle land / Eric Walters.
(The seven prequels)

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4598-1149-2 (paperback). ISBN 978-1-4598-1150-8 (pdf). ISBN 978-1-4598-1151-5 (epub)

I. Title.
PS 8595. A 598 J 86 2016 j C 813'.54 C 2016-900477-5
C 2016-900478-3

First published in the United States, 2016
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016933649

Summary: In this middle-grade novel, DJ travels with his grandfather to Central America and ends up hunted by armed gunmen.

Orca Book Publishers is dedicated to preserving the environment and has printed this book on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Design by Teresa Bubela
Cover photography by iStock.com
Author photo by Sofia Kinachtchouk

ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS
www.orcabook.com

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I startled, and my head jerked up. I was suddenly fully awake, surrounded by blue sky and a few fluffy white clouds, sitting in the copilot seat of an airplane. On the sound system was Frank Sinatradoing it his way.

Did you have a nice nap, DJ? my grandfather asked.

I just sort of drifted offsorry.

Thats okay. I fell asleep myself for a bit.

I gasped. You did!

He chuckled, and I realized he was joking.

Of course, this baby is equipped with autopilot, so I guess I could drift off for a while and wed be none the worse for wear, he said.

Still, I should have stayed awake to keep you company.

Its a long flight, and I think the purring of the engines can lull you to sleep, he said.

Yeah, its very, um, restful.

What I didnt say was that I was unnerved by yesterdays flightwhich had been very bumpyand I hadnt gotten too much sleep last night. Wed been in the air for most of yesterday, stopping first in Jacksonville, Florida, and then flying on to Cancun, Mexico, where wed spent the night. Wed left Cancun early, and wed been in the air now for almost five hours. It was a long way to Central America from Ontario.

The little orange motion-sickness pill I took every time I flew didnt help me stay awake. Despite the many times Id been in the air with my grandfather, I still felt sick to my stomach every time. He didnt know I got airsick. He didnt know I took medication every time I flew with him. Only my mother knew. I thought my grandfather would be disappointed in me if he knew. My mother said hed understand, but she still kept my secret.

My grandfather loved flyingprobably even more than I hated it. And because I loved being with him, I didnt want him to know how I really felt about flying. I must have been a pretty good actor, because he didnt seem to.

Theres not much to see out there right now, Grandpa said.

I looked out and down. Beneath us was the Pacific Ocean, glistening in the bright sunlight. I looked all around, trying to find a hint of land, but there was nothing on the horizon. That, of course, meant there was no place to land if there was an emergency. Thank goodness for twin engines.

I guess I should just take it as a compliment that you have such faith in my flying that you can go to sleep, he said.

You know I have complete faith in you! I said.

That was no lie. My grandpa wasnt just my grandpa. He wasnt just somebody I loved. He was somebody I really, really liked and looked up to.

He had been flying for over fifty years. He had flown combat missions in the war and had piloted little planes around the world before he settled down to run a successful import/export business. Of course, that had put him in the air all the time, and my mother told us stories about how much he was gone while she and her sisters were little.

Hed had only daughtersfour of themand those daughters had had only sonssix of us. My mother joked that we were the sons hed never had. And I guess he was sort of the father Id lost.

Grandpa owned his own plane. It was a four-seat, single-engine Cessna. Although it had a range of a thousand kilometers, he used it mainly for short flightsjust for going for a spin, as he put it. Id been up for dozens and dozens of spins. Logically, I knew that he was a great pilot and that the Cessna was one of the safest, most reliable planes in the world. Still, even the safest, most reliable planes with the best pilots did crash.

Hed borrowed a Piper Chieftain from a friend for this trip. It was a lot bigger than Grandpas own plane and could seat eight people. It also had two engines. The odds of both engines on a plane dying were really, really small. I knew because Id looked it up.

I thought my grandfather would have been happier in his Cessna, but he had arranged to use this plane because it had more range, and we were going a long way. This time we werent just going for a spin. We were going on what he called a real flight.

Flying all the way to Central America was more flight than I wanted, but it was all part of the adventure. This was much, much more than a flight. This was a special adventure my grandpa had arranged just for me and him. He had decided he was going to take each of his grandsons on a trip.

Originally, it was going to happen when each of us turned sixteen, but Grandpa had decided that he was getting too old to wait that long. So here I was, not quite thirteen, the oldest of the grandsons, and the first to go on one of the adventures.