Children's author Ben Mikaelsen talks about his inspiration for Jungle of Bones and reads from the novel.
About the Book:
Dylan gets caught taking a joyride in a stolen car and shipped off to live with his ex-Marine uncle for the summer. But Uncle Todd has bigger plans for Dylan than just early-morning jogs.
Half-a-world away, grown over by the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, is a WWII bomber named Second Ace, which was shot down during the war. The bomber's only survivor was Dylan's grandfather.
Nearly dead, he stumbled through the tangled underbrush for two weeks before being found. For years the jungle has hidden any traces of Second Ace, or of the crew's remains. Now Uncle Todd is taking Dylan to try and find the wreckage.
For Dylan, life has always been a joke. But in the depths of PNG, he finds a world that can't be controlled, and he's brought to a crossroad. These deadly jungles can either be Dylan's salvation, or they can swallow him whole.
The music in this program was written and performed by John Floridis.
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Ben Mikaelsen, has won the International Reading Association Award and the Western Writer's Golden Spur Award. In addition, his novels have won many state Reader's Choice awards. These novels include Rescue Josh McGuire, Sparrow Hawk Red, Stranded, Countdown, Petey, Touching Spirit Bear, Red Midnight, Tree Girl, and Ghost of Spirit Bear.
Ben's articles and photos have appeared in numerous magazines around the world. His novels have been carried by Scholastic and Troll book fairs, and are recorded on unabridged audio tape with recorded books. Recently Ben was featured nationally on Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures and also on German national TV.
Ben lives in a log cabin near Bozeman, Montana.
