Title: Where the Jungle Calls
Author: Rosie Boom
Major Themes: Papua New Guinea, Jungles, Adventures
Synopsis: Life becomes one long series of adventures when Rose and Penny’s family moves from the city in New Zealand to the jungle in New Guinea!
Around ten years ago, I read Rosie Boom’s The Barn Chronicles series to my children. We loved her accounts of how her family lived on a small farm in northern New Zealand. Last year, Rosie came to a homeschool mother’s retreat which I attended, and brought copies of her books to sell. Among them was her most recent, Where the Jungle Calls, the story of her three years as a little girl in New Guinea. I knew I had to have a copy of this book, too, and read it to my children!
Publisher’s description:
Rose lives in the big city. But one day her life changes forever.…
Rose, her twin sister Penny and their brother Peter find themselves swept away into a great adventure, sailing the blue Pacific to a mission school deep in the jungles of Papua.
There they become adventurers and explorers in their own wild kingdom. They swim and fish in the rivers and make huts and gardens where they grow pineapples, peanuts and bananas. They chase huge emerald and blue butterflies. They run barefoot and free, and imagine themselves as Tarzan and Jane, swinging on vines through the jungle.
But there are hidden dangers lurking: snakes, scorpions, jerry-wars, malaria—and in the rivers, fearsome crocodiles.…
Here in the jungles of Papua, New Guinea the readers of The Barn Chronicles will meet their favourite characters again in a different time, a different place. This is where their adventures first began.
My thoughts:
What a fun book! All of us enjoyed it, even my four-year-old (who, to be fair, loves almost all stories). It was one of our favorites for the month. We enjoyed reading about the adventures of the three children, and their mother’s struggles with the harshness of life in the jungle. I loved seeing the differences in the identical twins, Rose and Penny. I also loved the way the children’s parents guided and cared for them so lovingly. They weren’t always perfect; one story tells of a time when the father encouraged the children to do something that turned out to be dangerous—and it shows his remorse afterward. The children certainly weren’t always perfect, either, and their parents guided them into making wiser choices the next time. However, while there are definitely character-building aspects to Where the Jungle Calls, the main point of this book is the adventure. Imagine being 8 or 12 years old and suddenly moving from the city to the jungle next to a river! What adventures you could have—and they did. This book is perfect for any boy or girl who loves real-life adventure stories.
WARNING: Chapter 22: Bullies injure a girl. Chapter 25: A woman breastfeeds a piglet. Chapter 26: A puppy is killed. Chapter 37: Mention of twins being left to die in the tribal setting; an eagle is killed; a snake’s head is cut off. Chapter 38: Blasted cat. Chapter 42: Dog is killed, chick dies.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 5 – 8, 8 – 12, 10 – 12, 12 – 15, Family Friendly
Reading Independently—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12, 12 – 15
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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