Cloudburst By Wilbur Smith with Chris Wakling

Cloudburst
Wilbur Smith

with Chris Wakling

Published by Piccadilly Press
£6.99
ISBN: 9781848128538
Pages: 307

Author contact details:
www.wilbursmithbooks.com
facebook.com/WilburSmith
www.wilbur-miso-smithfoundation.org
@thewilbursmith

www.christopherwakling.com
@chriswakling

Publisher website:
www.piccadillypress.co.uk

@PiccadillyPress

Under 100 characters book review:

Jack Courtney, from the famous Courtney family, frantically hunts through the DRC for his kidnapped parents.

The first line:

I was asleep when the airliner hit turbulence.

My review:

Cloudburst is the first in a planned series of books by Wilbur Smith using the same family of characters as in some of his adult books. The young star of the story, Jack Courtney, is taken to the Democratic Republic of Congo by his parents, as they are attending an environmental conference about the use of mines in the area. Right from the very start, there are strange happenings and as a reader you get a great sense of unease about many of the characters, which are the authors at their best – you really don’t know who to trust! Jack has a mixed relationship with his parents and a tough incident in the past keeps rearing its head. However, he has two strong friends to rely on: the brainbox Amelia and the calm and reflective Xander. After exploring the jungle, Jack finds his parents are missing, and the three friends face a torrent of disbelieving adults before therefore deciding to take matters into their own hands in order to save them. The tension never really lets up throughout the rest of the story and there are some wonderful twists and turns as you go through. This book would be great for Upper Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3.

How could it be used in school?

With the wonderful description of the DRC, this story could be used to compare life in Africa with another place, such as where your school is situated. There are a variety of landscapes mentioned, such as the jungle and these could be used in geography topics. I think a character study about Caleb would be fascinating, as he changes a lot throughout the whole story due to the experiences he goes through.  Lots of PSHE could be taken from the story as a whole, as there are strong themes of a changing family, friendship and ultimately betrayal.  Clearly, the book’s main theme is one of protecting the environment, and this is a great, very current, topic for children to study. This could be used in lots of different ways, from researching what has happen with mines and the jungle in African countries, to comparing this to Greta Thunberg or creating newspaper articles about what is happening. I would want to know more about the DRC before I read the book, as the characters go on quite a journey to find Jack’s lost parents, and this would really help to visualise his many different journeys. Some French is spoken in the book, as the main language of the DRC, so if your class is learning this language this is a nice link. There are many moments in the book, as it s twists and turns through the plot, which are ‘What would you do…’ moments, which would create great discussions, conscience alleys and freeze frame opportunities.

Warning – there is loss of life (a father) mentioned in the story quite vividly, which could be upsetting for some readers.

If you liked this, you might like to try reading:

1. Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood
2. Quest Chasers by Thomas Lockhaven
3. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Where I received the book:

 UKLA 3-11 magazine

A full review is available in the UKLA’s 4-11 magazine, along with many other reviews of books for children, along with many interesting and thought-provoking articles – https://ukla.org