Bartlett and the City of Flames Book

Bartlett is a famous intrepid explorer--but you wouldn't think so to look at him. Thin and wiry, with knobbly fingers, a face full of freckles and hair that is obviously not very familiar with a comb, this is the young man who was asked to achieve the impossible in his first, hugely readable and epic adventure as told by Odo Hirsch in Bartlett and the Ice Voyage. And now, he has another seemingly tricky and difficult mission. The Margoulis Caverns are the longest, deepest chain of caves ever found. With bottomless pools and echoing chambers, only a fraction of them have ever been explored. It's the ultimate trip. Months later, alongside his companions Gozo and Jacques le Grand, Bartlett finally emerges from the depths with a fistful of maps. But where are they? All around them is a barren, rocky landscape that doesn't look at all friendly. They have unwittingly surfaced in another faraway land in the middle of an age-long struggle between the Overgrounders who live in the City of the Sun, and the Undergrounders who live in the daylight-starved City of the Flames. And the fun has only just begun. Bartlett's second adventure is as page-turning as his first. Along the way there's kidnapping, imprisonment, theft, acts of madness and threats of execution. But there's also Inventiveness, Desperation and Perseverance--the three maxims by which Bartlett lives his appealing but old-fashioned life of daring and bravery. Odo Hirsch's books are incredibly readable and Bartlett his finest creation so far. It's good, clean fun and should not be missed. (Ages 10 and over) --John McLayRead More