Thanks for sending us the book. My daughter and I have read through the book over the last couple of evenings together. From the very beginning the story dives straight into the action with the main female character Sophie playing five-a-side football. Both my daughter and I felt it was refreshing to have a girl as the main protagonist rather than a boy. The book also promotes physical activity from the start with football games and obstacle courses.
The language used is simple and easy to understand, I felt it might be aimed for an audience a little bit younger than my daughter Evie, who has just turned eleven. I think she would have appreciated something a little more complex.
The conflict is introduced in the second chapter. When a crane fly enters Sophie's tent, her phobia of insects reveals itself. The protagonist is gifted a "magic compass" by a boy who seems to be aware of how embarrassed Sophie feels over her fear of creepy crawlies. I am sure many children can identify with an anxiety surrounding bugs so hopefully this book could help them to start understanding and dealing with their own fears.
The reader is introduced to Bear Grylls at the end of the third chapter after Sophie is transported to the desert by the compass. During their time in the desert Sophie questions Bear on many different topics. Evie and I felt that this was good because not only did it reflect real childlike behaviour, it reassured us that Sophie was safe with Bear who has knowledge of their surroundings and also taught us (the reader) desert facts.
We felt that Bear really put his own stamp on this book when he kills a scorpion to eat. I feel that young Bear Grylls fans would enjoy reading these parts. In the end the conflict is resolved, and Sophie overcomes her fears after Bear's teachings in the desert and she is ricocheted straight back into her obstacle race at the campsite. Evie liked the sentiment at the end of the story which sees Sophie pass on her compass to Omar who also displays unease at the sight of an insect.
Overall therefore, we felt the characters were likeable, the plot was well structured and Bear's teachings helped the young reader to learn facts about how to survive in the desert and about the desert itself. The only criticism I have is that I felt it maybe it should have been aimed at an older audience with more complex sentences, the reason for this being that I feel Bear Grylls young fans maybe slightly older than the age range that this book is intended.
Evie and I particularly liked the questions at the end that helped us to recap over the things we had learnt and I thought that this would be particularly helpful if your child was reading the book alone but wanted to talk over the story with a parent at the end. Evie said in future it would be nice to see a non-fiction collection from Bear Grylls with lots of photographs, facts, quizzes, puzzles and physical activities. Thanks for sending this free book and hope this review has been useful.