New on our shelves at the library this week is Gary Paulson's Masters of Disaster. This quick, 100-page novel was published in 2010, and features three 12-year-old boys trying to escape the banality of suburban Cleveland life. The group leader, Henry, comes up with the plans. Riley, the group's secretary documents everything the group does while Reed, the unfortunate comic-relief character, has to perform all the stunts and ends up smelling like something horrible after each plan.
I picked up this book because Paulson is quite popular for one of his books, Hatchet, which I remember reading when I was in 5th grade more than fifteen years ago. This is not in the same vein as Paulson's survival stories, however, there are plenty of adventurous elements throughout the novel.
One of the most insteresting aspects about this novel is the way Paulson demonstrates his influence over literature for tween readers. In the beginning of the story, Henry reveals that he is motivated by the stories they have been reading in English class, one of them about a boy whose plane crashes and he is left to survive in the wilderness with only a Hatchet. This of course is referring back to Hatchet and its companions which, as I mentioned earlier, children encounter sometime around fifth grade. To have been around for so long producing literature that you can then write another book about how children have been influenced by a previous work is quite the accomplisment.
I would recommend this to boys ages 10 and up. Some of the stunts that the students pull off may need to be contextualized for some readers as the boys are extremely lucky they aren't hurt more, and there ought to be a "Please don't try any of these stunts at home" message on the front. All in all though, Masters of Disaster is a fun read for a lazy Saturday afternoon.
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