Children's & Young Adult book reviews by a rather odd duo.
Posts tagged B. K. Bostick
Hidden Treasure and Exciting Adventure
August 30, 2011
by Jenny
Huber Hill and the Dead Man’s Treasure by B. K. Bostick
(Digital ARC received from Cedar Fort Publishers.)
Huber Hill is having a rough time. At home his parents are always fighting, and at school he has no real friends and gets picked on daily by Scott, a bully whose life mission seems to be to destroy Huber. To top it all off, Huber’s twin sister, Hannah, is seemingly perfect, an athlete with good grades and tons of friends. The only time Huber feels truly happy is when he and Hannah visit Grandpa Nick, who tells them stories of his youthful adventure days and the hunt for Spanish treasure buried in mines in the mountains. When Grandpa Nick suddenly passes away, he leaves the twins a secret gift: a box with an old journal, a centuries-old map, and a single gold coin. The treasure is real!
In the meantime, a school conflict unexpectedly brings Huber and Scott together, and they start to build a strong friendship. When Huber’s parents announce a temporary separation, all three kids agree that it’s time to get away–time to search for buried treasure!
Unbeknownst to their parents, the three kids hike into the mountains on a camping trip to start the search, trying to decipher faded Spanish notes with the help of Grandpa Nick’s journal and slowly working their way closer to Tesoro de los Muertos. But no good adventure story would be complete without a bad guy: meet Salazar, a scarred, creepy, and blood-thirsty Spaniard who traveled across the world to claim the treasure for himself. (more…)
Author Spotlight: Interview with B. K. Bostick
August 21, 2011
by Jenny
We are pleased to welcome author B. K. Bostick as he drops in for an interview on his virtual book tour! Bostick’s upcoming novel Huber Hill and the Dead Man’s Treasure is a great treasure-hunting adventure book for middle readers full of excitement, friendship, discovery, creepy villains, and mystery! Be on the lookout for it when it hits shelves October 1, 2011. (Review to follow!)
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Huber Hill is a great adventure story full of treasure hunting and exciting escapes. Where did you get the idea for the book and the story about buried treasure?
What inspired you to share it with the world? My grandpa. He would always tell me stories about Spanish treasure hidden up in the mountains. I always imagined going on these wild adventures to find the gold. As I grew older, I realized that the real treasures were the stories my grandpa told me. I’ll always remember those days sitting at his side listening as he showed me old maps, books, and artifacts. If there’s one theme to the story, it’s that relationships with friends and family are of much more worth than any kind of money.
Out of the three kids–Huber, Hannah, and Scott–which character do you relate to the most? Were any of them based on people in real life?
I was bit like Huber when I was young–more sober-minded and quiet, yet tenacious when I decided to do something. Grandpa Nick was based off of my own grandpa and Scott took on a lot of characteristics of one of my best friends.
In Huber Hill, you do a great job capturing the dynamic between siblings. Did you base Huber and Hannah’s relationship on your own family? What about the relationship between Huber’s parents?
I do have an older brother (we nearly fought to the death on many occasions). However, Huber and Hannah’s relationship I took from working with twin siblings during my time as a teacher. I noticed oftentimes that twins would be compared and sometimes one would excel the other in school, sports, what have you. Huber’s parents’ relationship I also took from many of the parents I observed while teaching. Their personalities and differences would always come out during parent teacher conferences.
You wrote such a creepy, determined villain–he’s so interesting! What was your inspiration for Salazar?
In the stories I like to read, the villain is always rotten to the core. There are times you wonder about Salazar and even feel sorry for him, but there’s no denying the fact he cares about no one but himself. Some of his quirks and vocabulary were influenced by a certain Spanish teacher I knew (he’ll remain nameless). Salazar is just as tenacious as Huber, but their motivations polar opposites.
A lot of reviewers have been comparing Huber Hill to the movie “The Goonies”. Do you think that’s a good comparison, and did you make that connection yourself while writing?
I take that as a compliment. I love Goonies. I think Dead Man’s Treasure is focused on relationships and adventure. I’d say it’s more a combination of Stephen King’s Stand by Me and Goonies (two of my favorites growing up by the way). (more…)