EVACUATION ORDER

Two seventh graders battle dangers from a wildfire.

When a wildfire reaches their coastal California town, Sam Durand, his dog, Goodboy, and his best friend, Marco Nuñez, race to escape the flames—traveling on foot, bike, and ATV. They encounter plausible challenges like a flat bike tire, worsening smoke conditions, and a neighbor who’s been unable to evacuate. Interspersed chapters offer readers new facets of the catastrophe, following the perspectives of firefighters and a young deer spooked by the blaze. Mason and Stephens elucidate the details of the disaster with specificity and propulsive suspense, from the origins of the massive blaze right down to the dangerously hot rock that remains after fire has torn through a streambed. The book’s characterization, however, doesn’t live up to these thrilling particulars, saddling Sam with a conflicted relationship with his deceased photographer father and an obsessive effort to re-create his dad’s images. Marco selflessly supports his friend, even to the point of leaving his own family to rescue Sam. The rest of their fearful flight results from Sam’s insistence on tracking his mother to the hospital where she works instead of evacuating with Marco’s family. Physical descriptions of characters are minimal, though Marco is cued Latine.

A heart-pounding survival story for readers who can overlook the clumsy characterization.