Jamie Bastedo

Goodreads Synopsis:
Fourteen-year-old Indio McCracken enjoys instant stardom after his father posts a video of him playing the guitar. Things quickly go sour when Indio’s fame fuels his father’s dream of raising the world’s next Segovia. Robbed of a normal childhood, Indio desperately seeks escape online, creating an obsession that almost kills him. Facing school expulsion—or worse—Indio is shipped off to an addictions rehab center in the wilds of northern Canada where the adventure of a lifetime awaits him.
We all depend on digital devices, but what happens when our normal interaction with these useful tools crosses the line into addiction?
Award-winning author Jamie Bastedo explores the roots of one “screenager’s” passions and pitfalls in this timely tale of oppression, addiction, and deliverance.

My Review:
I really enjoyed this book. It had been on my currently reading list for a couple weeks before I actually started it, because I kept thinking "Nawh I better read this one first" but I'm so glad I finally jumped into it. An easy read but a heart wrenching story, Indio or Ian McCracken is a child prodigy. Starting his journey with guitar at the age of four, he became the fastest guitar player in the world at age fourteen. The next few years of his life are devastating. His father, who runs gold mines in Guatemala, is not the best father. He keeps Indio on lock down and even beats his legs with blunt objects until they bruise and later scar if he doesn't get the song exactly right during practice. After uploading a video of him playing at a local concert, he quickly goes viral. He only gets to go to school about two days a week, spending at least five hours a day practicing. There's riots going on outside his house because of the work his father is doing, destroying the environment and the people that live in those areas because of the mines. The family is forced to abandon their work and their home, shutting down the mine and moving to Calgary, AB, my hometown and current place of living. There after a long depressive episode, he's able to reclaim himself as Ian, and although he has a hard time keeping motivation up and actually going to school, he's quickly immersed into the world wide web, something he's had no experience with in the past. He starts up two blogs, one for Indrio, and one for Ian, and runs them religiously. The internet is quickly taking over his life and he finds it hard to concentrate on anything else. He's missing school, he's losing track of time, and worst of all hes majorly depressed when he's not online. He feels alienated and the only thing that makes him feel better is blogging. He develops an addiction that almost kills him, it's taking over his life and putting him in danger. His parents force him one day to go to a rehab camp, and that's when things really start changing for him. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when I first started it, but I really enjoyed reading it. The main character develops so much, especially throughout the last half of the book, growing from a young and sheltered thirteen year old boy to a strong sixteen year old who really knows what he wants from life and isn't afraid to grab it. He gets himself in some trouble along the way, but he figures himself out and that's always what matters the most, and is really the best ending. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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Fledgling Wisp’s father is killed by an avalanche dropped by a water bomber onto a fire in his Northwest Territories home town. His sister, Willo, and his mother manage to escape and fly to a rendezvous point. Wisp is knocked out and when he awakes, he is alone. Lacking the inherent navigational skills of Nighthawks, it takes Wisp eight long months, flying with other flocks, to find Willo and his mother in the “Refugium” in the Amazon, where Nighthawks migrate during winter. However, Wisp finds the place too confining and the rules to restricting. He escapes, with Willo following him, and heads north to the freedom of the Tundra, something his father had often spoke about. However, Arwen, the Refugium leader cannot allow an escape and sends the Guardian nighthawk, Flare and his troops to find the escapees, and deal with them.
Although it is unusual for a book to be narrated by a bird, Nighthawk just does not fly as a comedy, an adventure story or dystopian novel about escaping from the totalitarianism of the Refugium. Particularly annoying is the Mexican accent that Mr. Bastedo gives to the ravens that nighthawks interact with during their travels. The treacherous journey through volcanoes, mountains and deserts and the hunger, thirst and fatigue felt by Wisp and Willo does not translate onto the page. Readers will not feel the danger of capture by the Guardian nighthawks. An interview with the author at the end of the book is more interesting than the story.… (more)

Wild, mysterious, and isolated, the horses of Sable Island have the potential to be a lightning rod for children’s imaginations. When our family read Free as the Wind during part of our family’s study of Nova Scotia in our homeschool, these horses and the child-level activism that led to the reinstatement of their freedom (following plans to sell them for dog food) permanently etched themselves upon the mind of my oldest daughter (8).

Her notebooking page for Nova Scotia was filled with writing and drawings telling the story of these horses and historical details (including dates drawn from the interior cover flaps) that we gleaned from author Jamie Bastedo’s telling of their story for children. Taken from the events of the 1960’s, Bastedo’s fictional narrative follows a boy from Sable Island as he moves to Halifax, Nova Scotia with the deportation of the horses. Children are then able to follow the letter writing campaign that Canadian school children engaged in, and the encouraging results – freedom for the horses – that their early political engagement resulted in.

Some of the scene transitions felt a bit choppy, but this picture book covers aspects of Canadian history and political process that are rarely seen in children’s literature. This is, in fact, the first book that I have read that is specifically about the horses of Sable Island.

I can’t imagine failing to revisit this book the next time we visit Nova Scotia in our studies, and I am thankful for the delightful reception it has received from all of my children (who often climb into my knee and ask me to read it for them.)

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com… (more)

Have the polar bears returned to Nanurtalik? When a teen's mangled body and giant footprints are found in the snow, it certainly seems as if Ashley's polar bear dreams are coming true. Vivid and terrifying, Nanurluk stalks Ashley, but does she also wear another face? Can the tiny Arctic town survive not just the usual cruel winter season, but also the freakish weather and natural disasters brought about by the gradual warming of the Earth?

Born to an eclectic, supportive family of dreamers and artists, Ashley's story is at once a coming of age tale and the saga of the Arctic and the changes brought about by the modern world. Excellent.… (more)