Official Review: Project 14: The Legend of Beelzebub's Bluff
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Official Review: Project 14: The Legend of Beelzebub's Bluff

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I found the theme of this story to be about each characters sense of self, they each had to find strength from within to make it back home from their journey. These children had fathers who tried to instill good values such as confidence, patience, solving problems, sticking together in them so they could overcome anything that they encountered together. The Clayton father called it mental seasoning, which you learn about in the beginning of the story. Throughout the book, the children each think of their dads voice telling them to be strong, that they have the will to get through anything.
The story is about Jon Clayton's children Skylar, Noah and Cade and also about Danny Garza's children Kyra and Timmy. Their families always go camping out at the Mar Par River every year. The fathers always tell them the story of Paul Redman year after year, this year they added a little bit to the story. Basically, Paul Redman gets stuck down in a cave off the Mar Par River and is hunted by some animal that resembles a bear, but is an animal he has never seen before. He finds that light freezes the creature. The children always wonder if the story their dads tell them is real or not. They seem to kinda of believe it but not really. Where the children camp, stories have evolved to name the surrounding landscape such as Redman's Pass. Their is also a story about Barnaby from 1887. The story goes that he was having a picnic with his girlfriend and he went to save someone in a boat on the river by them and they just disappeared. What took them was later called Raven's Claw. There is also Goose Landings, Beelzebub's Bluff and the Devil's Garden.
Eventually the children get caught themselves by the Raven's Claw, which pulled them into an underground cave from the river. Over the next days they go farther into the cave trying to find a way out. However, from the moment they went into the cave they started on a magical adventure. The children learn about the history of the place. They are introduced to a strange different world with people, animals, things they have never laid eyes on before.
I love reading stories like this to my son. Stories that are creative, that open up a fictional world that keeps him interested in the story. I liked that at some point while I was reading the book I started to realize things were not as they seemed, I wanted to keep reading to find out what happens. I also liked how the end of the story is kind of hinted to you at the beginning.
This book is fun to read, it would especially be fun to read to children. This book is entertaining, different and fun. I rate it 4 out of 4 stars.
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