Race to the end of the world by A.L. Tait
The Mapmaker Chronicles. bk 1. Hachette, 2014. ISBN 9780734415776
(Age: 10-15) Highly recommended.
'In the meantime, though, he might as well try to enjoy the fact
that he'd be doing exactly what he loved for three months. Reading.
Writing. Learning.
How bad could it be?'
Quinn has spent the whole thirteen years of his life helping his mam
on the farm. He was the smallest and youngest of six sons, the runt.
So when he is chosen by the king to compete for one of three spots
as a mapmaker he is reluctant. Quinn thinks he is nobody and so do
most of the noble boys who have also been chosen. Especially Ira,
the biggest and richest of all the boys. Ira is positive that Quinn
will not make it and not get chosen.
And no one is more surprised than Quinn when he is chosen by the
large Deslonder to be his mapmaker.
Three teams, three maps of the world and a big prize. The race is
on...
I recommend this novel to boys, ten to fifteen as it mainly consists
of action and fights. I would also recommend this novel to people
who enjoy reading historical fiction as it is set in the time the
world was believed to be flat. It talks about the unfairness of
girls in that era and shows how girls were classed as bad luck in
certain circumstances.
A.L Tait has done a fantastic job of portraying what life would've
been like in that time and describing what the people would have
been thinking during the adventures and problems they encounter.
Jazmin Humphries, Year 7