Adventure at Brimstone Hill

Who doesn’t love an adventure? I know I have always loved adventures and mysteries so how happy was I when Carol Ottley-Mitchell asked me to review her book, Adventure at Brimstone Hill.  This is a children’s mystery – the first in the Caribbean Adventure Series.  I originally passed this book on to Cameron to see her reaction, and as she started telling me about her readings the first day, I had to join in and read it behind her.  After she fell asleep each night, I’d take the book off of her nightstand and read what she had read that day.  I think I may have enjoyed it as much as she did.

There’s no way that Carol could have known, but Cameron is really fascinated by monkeys right now. Her last two Build A Bear pets? Monkeys. So when she found out that this story was about 3 children – Kyle, Ingrid, and Mark and their MONKEY, Chee Chee she was hooked from the beginning.  Did I mention one of her dogs name is Chee Chee?  That was one of the first things she had to tell me about the book  - the MONKEY NAMED CHEE CHEE!! She loved to read about their adventures of the children on their field trip at Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. The adventure takes place on a tiny island called St. Kitts in the Caribbean. Maybe better than Chee Chee? The fact that the children are 9 – so close to her own age.

What did Mom like?  I loved the vocabulary in the book. The book was full of words that Cameron didn’t know that served as great spring boards into vocabulary lessons.  After the first chapter, I gave her a highlighter and she started marking any words she wasn’t sure of the meanings.  We then worked on context clues and looked up some of the words that she couldn’t guess.  The English teacher and Mom in me was proud that the book was interesting enough to keep her attention and made for a great lesson too.

Another Mom plus?  The fact that the setting is a true location that Cameron (and I) had never heard of – Brimstone Hill.  After finishing the book, we browsed the Internet to learn more about this historical location.

The story? The story begins with us meeting the 3 children and Chee Chee on the day of the class field trip to Brimstone Hill.  Chee Chee, of course, isn’t welcome on the field trip, but makes it anyways.  As the children search for Chee Chee, they are taken into the past – right in the middle of a battle between the British and the French during the 18th century. The book centers around the adventures the children have when they are taken back in time to this battle. I won’t reveal more of the plot, but if you have children between 7 or 8 and 12, I think you’ll find this to be an enjoyable story for them to read, or maybe you could read it as a family.  It has so much history throughout the book, that a great summer project could be researching the history surrounding the setting and battle after you finish reading Adventure at Brimstone Hill by Carol Ottley-Mitchell.

Want to know more about Carol and her series? Even read a preview of book 2 – Pirates at Port Royal at http://caribbeanadventureseries.com/.  You can also read more about Carol here.

And do I have great news for you!  This is your lucky day as you can now enter for a chance to win your very own copy of Adventure at Brimstone Hill.

Required Entry:
Tell me where you would go if you could go on your very own dream adventure – you can choose a past or present location!  Or maybe even somewhere in the future!

Bonus Entries:

**To earn these entries you must first complete the REQUIRED ENTRY**
**For each extra entry, you must leave an additional comment**

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3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet this contest out! (you must leave a link to the tweet – already a follower, just tweet and let me know)
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5. Blog about this contest (WORTH 3 ENTRIES – LEAVE 3 COMMENTS) linking to this post.

The Fine Print

• Must be a US Citizen
• Contest ends Saturday, August 1 at Midnight CST.
• You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address.
• All entries will be verified before naming the winner.
• Winner has 72 hours to claim prize and then a new winner will be selected.

Don’t want to wait until the contest ends? You can buy it now for $12.95 at Amazon.

PLEASE NOTE CONTEST IS OVER!!!  WINNER HAS BEEN SELECTED AND ANNOUNCED!!