Rainforest Rescue: An Amazon Adventure

Josie Browning’s summer in the rain forest should come with a warning label. She already knows to watch for the obvious dangers like giant insects, poisonous snakes, and wild animals, but she has no way to predict that government protests, sabotage plots, and eco-terrorists will be even greater hazards.

Twelve-year-old Josie expects the visit to her dad’s Amazon research station will be a grueling, insect-filled endurance test. That is, until she meets Reji, a cute boy her same age, and hopes the summer might be salvageable. Thoughts of fun quickly dissolve when the government decides to construct a dam which will flood the research station and thousands of acres of rain forest surrounding it. Reji plans to stop the dam to protect his parents’ discovery of a unique cancer-fighting plant, but he needs Josie’s help. The plan goes horribly wrong, and one of them nearly dies, landing them in the biggest trouble of their lives.

INSPIRATION

The tropical rain forest fascinates me. Maybe it’s because it’s about as opposite as you can get from Midwest farm country where I grew up. I was surprised to learn that 25% of the world’s medicines are derived from rain forest plants and 70% of plants useful in cancer treatment are only found in the rain forest (according to the National Cancer Institute.) Thinking of those statistics as I read about the destruction of the rain forest scared me a little, especially when I came across the statistic that only 1% of rain forest plants have ever been tested for their medication potential.

With that information percolating in my brain, I happened across a news item about people protesting a new dam that would flood a good portion of Amazon rain forest – and that’s all I needed. BAM!
A story was born. I was so excited that I couldn’t stop writing about Josie and Reji and their brave plan. I hope when you read this story, you will find it just as exciting.

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