Archer's Quest by Linda Sue Park and Feodor Chin

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Archer's Quest
Available from Amazon
Price: $21.33
Updated on 12-28-2008.

Features

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Audio CD

Publisher: Listening Library (Audio); Unabridged edition (February 27, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0739338668

ISBN-13: 978-0739338667

Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches

Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces ()

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7 Park weaves Korean history and lore into a time-travel fantasy. Sixth-grader Kevin is home alone in Dorchester, NY, when an arrow flies through the air, pinning his baseball cap to the wall. Imagine his surprise to find a man claiming to be Koh Chu-mong, the Great Archer from a Korean kingdom in the first century B.C., in his bedroom. Archer claims to have fallen off the tiger he was riding, and has somehow landed in Kevin's bedroom. Much humor comes from the clash of the ancient and the modern. Archer is amazed and at times frightened by cars (surely powered by dragons), telephones, the computer, lights, and even a bed. Kevin, the grandson of Korean immigrants, is an ordinary kid, bored by school, especially history class. He feels that he is very different from his father, a programmer at a local university who loves math and precision. However, the need to get Archer back in time makes Kevin step up to the challenge. He takes the man to the local museum, but that idea doesn't help. A suspenseful trip to the zoo to see the tiger seems promising, but that tiger is from India, not Korea. During their wanderings around town, Archer tells wonderful stories of Korean history and legend. Finally, Kevin uses all his powers of reasoning and deduction to find the solution to Archer's quest to return home. In the process, the boy learns that ordinary people can do extraordinary deeds and comes to appreciate his dad. Although perhaps not as great as previous, award-winning books by this author, this tender title is still most worthy of attention. Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Twelve-year-old Kevin is shocked when Chu-mong, legendary ruler of ancient Korea, suddenly arrives with his bow and arrows in Kevin's room in Dorchester, New York. But Kevin is drawn to the brave stranger, who must return home before the Year of the Tiger ends the next day and history is changed forever. Park's A Single Shard, the 2002 Newbery Medal Book, is set in historic Korea, and her recent novel Project Mulberry (2004) is set in a contemporary Chicago suburb. This time she weaves together past and present. Although she works in too much informational content into the story--Korean history, math, folklore, the Chinese Zodiac, and more--the time travel in reverse is fun, especially Kevin's attempts to explain computers, cars, telephones, and zoos to the bewildered ruler. At the same time, the cool teen who "couldn't care less about his heritage" does learn to respect the old ways, and readers caught up in the adventure will want to find out more about the culture; Park's notes at the end of the book will help. Children who liked Grace Lin's The Year of the Dog (2006) about a Taiwanese girl, and are ready for a more difficult story, might enjoy this novel as well. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Archer's Quest (Hardcover) Kevin is a young boy, Korean-American, who is just following his normal routine of doing his homework--his boring, irrelevant history homework--when history comes to visit him in a quite unlikely way. His baseball hat is quite literally lifted off his head by an arrow of a strange visitor who insists that he just fell off a tiger's back. Unsure whether to call 911 or assume it's a bizarre dream, Kevin goes along with the odd man's requests. As he begins to explain modern life--glass windows break when you try to shoot arrows through them--he determines that the only way to make his life return to normal is to figure out WHO this guy is and WHY he's suddenly in his room. This leads him to do research both online and in person. The 'quest' is to find a way to send him back to his proper time. The solution--critical thinking skills, communication, math, and cultural research. While ARCHER'S QUEST is not my favorite Linda Sue Park novel. I think this modern-fantasy tale may prove interesting to some young readers.

Archer's Quest
List Price: $27.00
Available from Amazon
Price: $21.33
Updated on 12-28-2008.