Dimensions
178 x 198 x 10mm
When 12-year-old Robbie's father dies of cancer, he starts to spin out of control. He doesn't understand why he should behave and starts to take out his anger on his mother and sisters.
At her wits end, his mother decides he needs some time out and arranges for him to spend the holidays with his bachelor uncle, Jim, on the farm near Opotiki where his father grew up.
At first Robbie is resentful about being sent off into the wop-wops. But when he learns the farm is close to White Island, the famous volcanic island he's been studying at school, and there is an amazing valley on the farm his father used to call Paradise, he decides it might not be so bad.
What he finds is a previously unknown and mysterious species of giant native skink and the dangerously illegal wild-life smuggling activities of his uncle's rich neighbour propel Robbie into a breathtaking adventure, where he must use his knowledge, wit, intelligence and computer savvy to save his four-legged friend . . . and his own life.
An action-packed ecological adventure thriller that will appeal to boys in particular, with a believable hero and fascinating insights into native fauna, and the people who love and protect them.
