Every Hidden Thing

August 8, 2016
Samuel Bolt, son of short-fused fossil hunter Michael Bolt, dislikes school but excels as his father’s assistant. When Samuel meets Rachel Cartland, daughter of preeminent Yale paleontologist Professor Cartland, he is struck by her intelligence and directness. Both Rachel and Samuel join their fathers on digs in the Wyoming Territory, competing for fossil finds and the elusive T. rex. As their friendship develops into romance, their camps are endangered by the local Sioux tribe after Rachel and her father remove relics from a burial site. Rachel, expected to marry and become a society wife, must decide whether to obey her father or leave everything for Samuel and a life of exploration. Based on the 19th-century Bone Wars, Oppel’s (The Nest) story switches rapidly between the viewpoints of Samuel and Rachel, interspersed with the legend of the T. rex. While the politics of land ownership and the dynamics between native tribes and scientists is an absorbing and well-developed layer of the novel, the thrill of the hunt and the budding relationship between Rachel and Samuel take center stage. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)■

July 15, 2016
In the great era of dinosaur-hunting, two teenagers accompany their paleontologist fathers in a race to discover the biggest of them all: the rex. A spirit of adventure permeates this fast-paced novel by the award-winning Oppel. Rachel Cartland is the rare 19th-century girl whose father allows her to pursue her interest in the natural sciences, at least until she marries. Samuel Bolt, with his knack for assembling fossilized bones, convinces his nearly penniless father to mount an expedition to head west and follow up on a lead from an amateur bone collector. On the train to Nebraska, they discover that the moneyed Cartlands are headed to the same place with identical intentions--and a crew of paleontology students from Yale and a U.S. Army escort. With their fathers embroiled in rivalry, Sam and Rachel are meant to spy on each other, which gives them a chance to become acquainted out of sight of others. Rich in period details and dialogue, the story shifts between Rachel's and Sam's alternating first-person voices. Rachel's narrative reveals that she's one of the few white characters with enough conscience to reflect on the savagery of the explorers' treatment of the local Pawnee and Lakota Sioux. Suspense, romance, and the excitement of discovery make this Western thoroughly enjoyable. (Historical fiction. 14-17)

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August 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Rachel and Samuel both lost their mothers at a young age and have fathers obsessed with dinosaur fossils, but the similarities in their upbringing end there. Rachel grew up in relative luxury owing in part to her father's prestigious position at Yale. Samuel and his father, a self-taught paleontologist without official credentials, can barely make ends meet. However, they all end up on the same train headed out west in a race to be the first to find the fossil of a T. rex-a discovery that will launch one of the men into the national spotlight. In addition to outwitting each other, the rival camps must also deal with realities of life in the historical American Wild West: lack of supplies, possibility of wildfires, and potential violence at the hands of the "badlands" inhabitants (often referred to as natives, Indians, or Sioux). A long-standing feud between their fathers and a growing attraction between the two teenagers set up a Romeo and Juliet scenario from the very first pages of the book. The author deviates from the source material enough to surprise readers with some fun, original ideas and a happy ending. The protagonists are not entirely endearing characters, but they do grow and change in satisfying ways. While most teens won't be able to relate to the hasty marriage of these two young characters, there are many aspects of their relationship that will ring true, including the self-doubt and internal agony that come along with a couple's first conflict. Passages from the perspective of badlands natives are beautifully written; some characters treat the Sioux with prejudice, but some do not. VERDICT This genre-bending narrative with elements of romance, fantasy, and Westerns is not a necessity but will make a good secondary purchase.-Sunnie Scarpa, Wallingford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 In the late nineteenth century, Rachel Cartland and Samuel Bolt meet right before their paleontologist fathers get into a fistfight over a newly discovered dinosaur fossil. Locked in a vicious battle of one-upmanship, the professors, along with Rachel and Samuel, separately follow the same lead to a dig site in the Badlands. But under their fathers' noses, pragmatic Rachel and impulsive, romantic Samuel fall in love, bonding over paleontological ambitions. Their star-crossed romance isn't the only trouble: the teams are unearthing fossils in Sioux territory, which is risky enough, but Rachel and her father also desecrate a Sioux burial ground, rightfully igniting the ire of the tribe. In alternating first-person narratives, Rachel and Samuel tell the story of their growing romance against the backdrop of a fascinating period of scientific discovery and one of many grim moments in America's history with American Indians. While an eleventh-hour plot turn is a bit contrived and smacks of cultural appropriation, Oppel's descriptions of the digs and the brainy romance between his vivid, multifaceted protagonists are notable high points. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: From Airborn (2004) to The Boundless (2014) to The Nest (2015), Oppel's one of kid lit's most reliable chameleons. Curiosity should be high.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)