Monday, May 22, 2006

Archer's Quest by Linda Sue Park

Chu-mong fell off his tiger and apparently lands in Kevin’s room. Chu-mung tells Kevin call him Koh, Chu-mong the skillful archer but, Kevin insists on calling him Archie or Archer. Archie follows Kevin to the computer which Archie calls a magic box and finds two facts, one he already knows, the other one was that Archie changed his name, when he was king in the time of 55 B.C.. Kevin decides that they would go to the history museum. Archie couldn’t go in the museum because of his bow and arrows. Once, Kevin entered the Korean section of the museum, he realizes that all the things they had were way too recent. It only went as far back as the 1800’s. Kevin decides to talk to Mr. Lee and learns that Archie brought the chopsticks over to Korea from China. Since, Chu-mung’s time was Mr. Lee’s favorite time in history, Kevin knew that he would go on and on about useless information that Kevin didn’t need to know. So, Kevin cuts Mr. Lee short and ran out the door to the awaiting Archie. Kevin has the idea to go to the zoo to see what Archie would do if he sees a tiger. When they go to the zoo, Archie disappears and Kevin finds him inside the tiger cage, petting the tiger. Then Archie climbs out. While going to find another tiger that is metal, they are followed by Mr. Lee. Chu-mung gets on the tiger, Mr. Lee grabs him to take him back to the museum, unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, Kevin figures out that it’s the year of the dirt now and it was they year of metal when Chu-mung lived, Kevin decides to spreads dirt all over the tiger and Chu-mung. Chu-mung disappears.

At first the book, Archer’s Quest was not very interesting however, as I read on it caught my attention. Although I found this book to be an easy read. The book was exciting because, I love books where kids solve the mysteries and in this book Kevin figures out how to get Archie back to his time. At least that is what I think happens. The author kind of leaves you guessing as to what really happens. This book was very unpredictable! The ending was shocking, I thought that Kevin was going to wake up from a dream! I learned that zoos were once called the garden of intelligence. But, I didn’t really learn anything else. I felt as if this book should have been written for lower than the average fifth grade reading level. I was able to finish this book in just one day. Nothing stood out in the author’s writing style. I have not read anything else by this author but, I think that I would love any of her books, comparing them to this book. I think the author could have improved this story by making the first chapter catch your attention. The author could have also improved this book by explaining what happened to Archie. Can Kevin figure out how to get Archie back to his time or not? Was Archie sent to another time in history, not his time? Is Kevin Dreaming?

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 10
Reviewer City, State and Country: Channahon, IL U.S.A.

posted by Flamingnet Book Blog @ 9:50 PM