Go Big or Go Home

A meteorite blazes the way to extreme adventure

Citation:

Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs.  (HarperCollins  Publishers, 2008).  185p. Science Fiction Junior Book.

Summary:

After FRED, a meteorite, crashes into Brady’s bedroom, he begins to experience physical changes.

Critique:

a.         The effects that Brady experiences after his encounter with Far Roaming Earth Diver (FRED) unfold leaving the reader experiencing feelings of excitement and concern.

b.         The encounter with FRED has side effects that Brady initially welcomes and eventually leaves him in jeopardy.  The supernatural, extreme adventures involve Brady and his cousin, Quinn who enlist the help of others within their Black Hills community.

c.         “ ‘That’s how Brady got the Mars bacteria into his system.  Well, Attila dropped in his tracks only a matter of hours after Brady did…So maybe Attila’s only dormant!’ Buzz cried” (p. 171) provides an extraterrestrial twist to young boys who revel in all things extreme.  

Curriculum Connection:  

Go Big or Go Home is extreme.  It is extreme in descriptions, adventures, and celestial experiences.  This book could be used in a science lesson about space travel and meteorites to discuss and test the possibility of reactions to foreign objects. There are several references to caverns, stalactites and stalagmites, and topography that it could also be used to compare the book descriptions to actual opportunities of a field trip to Luray Caverns or the Caverns at Natural Bridge.