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Published Jul 2013
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Raccoon brothers Bingo and J'miah are the newest recruits of the Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. The opportunity to serve the Sugar Man - the massive creature who delights in delicious sugar cane and magnanimously rules over the swamp - is an honor, and also a big responsibility, since the rest of the swamp critters rely heavily on the intel of these hardworking Scouts.
Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn is not a member of any such organization. But he loves the swamp something fierce, and he'll do anything to help protect it.
And help is surely needed, because world-class alligator wrestler Jaeger Stitch wants to turn Sugar Man swamp into an Alligator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, and the troubles don't end there. There is also a gang of wild feral hogs on the march, headed straight toward them all.
The Scouts are ready. All they have to do is wake up the Sugar Man. Problem is, no one's been able to wake that fellow up in a decade or four…
Newbery Honoree and National Book Award finalist Kathi Appelt presents a story of care and conservation, funny as all get out and ripe for reading aloud.
Ages 8+
"Starred Review. Heroes and villains are drawn in bold strokes, but while there's little doubt who will emerge victorious, finding out how events unfurl is well worth the read. Ages 8-12." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. This delicious, richly detailed story is told in 104 short chapters, which swing the plot beautifully from one thread to the next and keep the action moving. Appelt's omniscient third-person narration exudes folksy, homespun warmth while also feeling fresh and funny. A satisfying romp." - Booklist
"Starred Review. In a honeyed dialect, the omnipresent narrator directly engages readers, ricocheting between the hilarious human and critter dramas to a riotous finale. A rollicking, ripping tall tale with ecological subtext." - Kirkus
"Appelt 'nailed it.' She has weaved a delightful yarn with a cast of affable characters and somehow manages to make a rusted 1949 DeSoto in a Louisiana swamp a cozy home for two raccoon scouts - absolutely charming." - Harry Bliss, New Yorker illustrator and illustrator of Diary of a Worm
"Kathi Appelt's amazing lyrical language with that perfect Southern cadence draws us deeper and deeper into the world of Sugar Man Swamp. Hilarious and heartfelt, Bingo and J'Miah draw you into their home, into the swamp and we care about each creature as though they are family." - Na An, author of the Michael L. Printz Award-winning and National Book Award finalist A Step from Heaven
This information about The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award-winning, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the highly acclaimed novel Keeper, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, and many picture books. She is a member of the faculty at Vermont College's Master of Fine Arts program and occasionally teaches creative writing at Texas A&M University. She has two grown children, lives in Texas with her husband, and once helped her grandma raise a baby raccoon.
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