Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Jason's Gold
	Author:	Hobbs, Will
	Date Published:	1999
	Genre:	Adventure
	Grade Level:	5 - 8
	Booktalker:	Bonnie Phinney

Booktalk:
What would you do if you suddenly struck it rich? It’s 1897 and 15-year old Jason has dreams. He’s been living in New York City, ever since he struck out on his own ten months earlier to prove to his brothers in Seattle that he was a man. While at work selling newspapers, the headline GOLD IN ALASKA catches his eye. “EXTRA, EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! PROSPECTORS FINE TWO TONS OF GOLD IN ALASKA!” Like everyone else, all he can think about is getting there himself. All he has to do is return to Seattle and talk his two brothers into heading north with him to stake their claim. Between them they had enough money from their inheritance to put together the equipment and supplies needed to make the trek. Of course, nothing goes as planned and Jason is faced with obstacle after obstacle in his frenzy to make it to the Klondike ahead of the others. His first disappointment happens when he arrives back in Seattle, only to discover that his brothers have already headed north without him, and have taken his share of the money, as well. Jason, though penniless, is more determined than ever now to find his brothers and stake his claim, no matter what. Jason stows away aboard a ship heading north, with thousands of others seeking gold. He is clueless as to the dangers that lie ahead – ¨ The opportunistic con men who take advantage of anyone they can, ¨ the nearly impossible terrain along Deadhorse Trail and the infamous Chilkoot Pass, ¨ the chronically short rations, ¨ the 500 mile canoe trip down the Yukon River to Dawson City, if a person even makes it over the mountains, ¨ wild animals, ¨ and, most frightening of all, the biting cold of the Canadian winter. But none of that compares to what he has to endure, a mere 250 miles short of his destination, when winter and injury finally overtake him…