What is it about digging holes and 13-year-old boys?
We recently dug a small foundation in the backyard for a concrete slab, and there wasn't a day without a small, yellow, plastic sabre-toothed tiger roaming that form trench.
Coincidentally, my son picked up this book, which features - you guessed it - several 13-year-old boys digging holes, although with almost tragic consequences!
He finished it in a few hours, handed to his sister and said, "You've GOT to read this. It's hilarious." They dubbed it the "warring grandmothers" book and spouted lines from it at the dinner table.
Set against the very serious historical background of the Cold War and the arms race with the USSR, this is a historical fiction must-read!
This book begins with Chance, who's 12, digging a hole. The description of him entering the house, dripping mud after digging, is priceless -- and an absolute nightmare to any parent who's wielded a mop. It's roll-on-the-floor funny.
The book has an interesting premise. While digging, Chance hits a tunnel, part of a network that connects ever-deeper chambers in which live all kinds of creatures, and of course they need medical attention.
His big sister, Pauline, who's too old for monsters and creatures underground, doesn't believe him until he disappears and she investigates the hole he's dug and ...slips in too.
I won't ruin the story, just know it's a dark romp and a lot of fun to read!
