Operation Redwood

Besides agreeing with all of the positive statements already listed in other reviews, one of the things I like the best about this book (I have given copies to 4 pre-adolescent kids already) is that the characters are ethnically diverse (Julian is biracial, Danny is Latino, Robin is Caucasian), but they are all familiar American kids. Their extended family backgrounds or their bilingual abilities are seen as normal, as part of who they are. They are likable, adventurous, curious, smart kids. As the parent of biracial children, I have looked long and hard for fun, page-turner young adult novels where the biracial aspect of the characters' lives are just a part of the novel, not some sort of curiosity. Part of the appeal of this book to young readers is that Julian is such a strong protagonist. He is that wounded person who goes forth and discovers his inner strength and power. He needs help and receives it along the way. He faces the struggle between good and evil. I wish that middle school teachers/librarians/administrators who work with an ethnically diverse population would discover this book and read it together in the classroom. Not only would it lead to a fruitful discussion on issues regarding nature and the environment, but also on family relationships, self-image, friendships, problem-solving, cultural experiences and ethics.

I read this book myself and liked it so much I bought it for my friend's kids (8 and 10). They read it aloud as a family until the older one couldn't wait to see what happened and read ahead. They loved it and even acted out some of the most suspenseful scenes while reading it. It's nice to find a book for both boys and girls with great themes: friendship, family, environment. I also liked how the kids kept trying against the odds. Wonderful plot twists and turns, many funny scenes, and memorable characters who rang true to life. I highly recommend this book!

This is a great read for kids and adults alike. I bought this book for my almost 10 year old nephew and my 12 year old niece, and they both loved it. Like many siblings, there's not a whole lot they agree on. But they agreed that once picked up, they didn't want to stop reading Operation Redwood until the climatic finish. They enjoyed and identified with the characters, loved the use of email exchanges throughout the book, and thought living in a treehouse was the coolest. The book also sparked an interest in redwood trees, which as residents of Boise Idaho, they hadn't personally experienced. I too found Operation Redwood addictive, reading it while on vacation and enjoying every plot twist. It would also be a great book to read out loud to younger readers.

"We need wilderness preserved -- as much of it as is still left, and as many kinds -- because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed. The remainder and the reassurance that it is still there is good for our spiritual health even if we never once in ten years set foot in it. It is good for us when we are young, because of the incomparable sanity it can bring briefly, as vacation and rest, into our insane lives. It is important to us when we are old simply because it is there -- important, that is, simply as idea." -- Wallace Stegner, 1961 "The computer beeped. Julian glanced at the screen, and saw a message so astonishing that he sprayed ginger ale out his nose and all across his uncle's computer screen. "The subject of the newest e-mail read: 'SIBLEY CARTER IS A MORON AND A WORLD CLASS JERK!!!'" Susannah T. French, environmental lawyer-turned-first-time children's book author and Left Coast member of the "Class of 2K9," cites Elaine Konigsburg and Jean Craighead George amongst her own childhood reading influences. In OPERATION REDWOOD -- which takes place in my neck of the woods -- French employs the cleverness of Konigsburg and the reverence of George in a hijinx-laden activist tale of two boys and a girl who plot to protect a privately-owned grove of old growth redwoods from being clear cut by a corporation. "'Today, experts estimate that about 4 percent of the original redwood forest remains.' "Julian frowned. He pictured ninety-six giant trunks lying on the forest floor and only four trees left standing. That couldn't be right." Julian Carter-Li has been having a truly miserable time of things since his mother departed San Francisco on her grant-underwritten photography trip to China. Julian has been stuck in the nightmarish care of his wealthy paternal aunt and uncle -- a very Dursley-ish duo. (His aunt employs a point system to supposedly motivate his behavior with incentives. He is now at NEGATIVE twenty-something and sinking fast.) And so it is that on a long afternoon and evening when he is under the weather and left alone, to wait for hours and hours in Uncle Sibley's corporate office, that Julian stumbles upon the insulting, aforementioned, UNOPENED e-mail on his uncle's computer. Opening (and then deleting) the email, Julian learns that his uncle is planning to clear-cut some place called Big Tree Grove. When Julian and his best bud Danny Lopez decide to reply to the insulting email, they learn that the author is Robin Elder, a girl living a couple of hours north of San Francisco, who will be personally impacted -- devastated by the loss of her family's Eden -- if Uncle Sibley's plan is successful. As the e-mails begin flying back and forth, Julian and Danny decide to secretly join forces with Robin to attempt the impossible. "He tried to imagine how the land might have looked five hundred years earlier, when the Miwok Indians lived there." I can remember how, as a teenager, I would somet

In OPERATION REDWOOD, four young kids take on big business to save a forest full of giant redwood trees. Debut author S. Terrell French has written an adventure filled with creative ideas, spunky ambition, and a love of the environment. Julian Carter-Li is staying with his uncle and aunt while his mother travels to China to photograph Buddhist temples. Things are not going well. Julian doesn't seem to be able to do anything according to the strict rules his aunt has established, and his uncle seems constantly disappointed in him. In fact, while alone in his uncle's fancy office, Julian stumbles across an extremely insulting email. It appears that his uncle believes Julian is unruly and "sullen" just like his late father. Julian can't believe what he is reading. Another email that attracts Julian's attention is from a young girl complaining that IPX, his uncle's company, is planning to destroy an area of redwood forest known as Big Tree Grove. Although he has never met this girl named Robin, Julian can relate to her anger that a huge company like IPX, that already has more money than he can imagine, would want to destroy something as important and historical as the redwoods just to make more money selling lumber. Julian keeps the emails he reads a secret until he hears his aunt's plans to send him off to Math Camp for the summer. He appeals to his friend, Danny, for help. When he tells Danny about the emails, Danny begins to concoct a plan that would keep Julian from spending his summer doing math calculations and instead possibly saving the redwoods. What follows is a daring adventure. Julian and Danny scheme to get Julian out of the city and off to Big Tree Grove where he can help Robin protect her old-growth forest. They may be just a few young kids, but they have big ideas. Even when their plans seem to be wrecked by Julian's annoying and interfering aunt, they manage to use creativity and determination to keep their eye on the goal. OPERATION REDWOOD provides excellent reinforcement for conservation lessons and the importance of preserving our natural habitats. It would work for readers in the 8-13 age group for independent reading or as a great classroom read-aloud. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"