Cover Image: UP A TREE

UP A TREE

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Member Reviews

This book has it all: engaging characters, fast-paced adventures, and a plot that pulls the reader along the twists and turns!

It is laugh out loud funny throughout, with a protagonist who is charming in ways that you really have to experience to understand.

At its root, it's also a deep analysis of our culture, without losing the sense of adventure and fun.

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough.

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When a group of adults who should know better force a young boy to tell his story, they should not be surprised when the story they get is not what they expected. UP A TREE author Richard M Brock has done a great job of telling this tale of a boy and his friend as they experience life through a multi colore lens. It does have echoes of Huck Finn but it's definitely an original story. Let's hope that Rory and Quinn never have to grow up!

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This book caught my interest when I saw it described as a modern day Huck Finn. I’m not sure that’s how I would sell it, but I can see the loose connections.

It took me a bit to get into the story about Rudy and Quinn and the mischief they find them selves in through the northern states. The boys would get themselves in to crazy situations without the realization of what’s going on or the impacts they will have. The book was entertaining from that aspect.

One thing that did confuse me was the timing of the book. It seemed to take place much later than the current day that the book really took place.

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Thank you to the author Richard M. Brock, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This was an interesting book told in first person by a young man who grew up in a small town in upstate New York. His voice and perspective are very funny and engaging. It is a little reminiscent of Tom Sawyer in its tone. It is also an interesting insight into how we make friends and family in sometimes unlikely places along the way as we travel through our lives. The story is fantastical in its scope, but still credible.

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**WARNING!!!! May Contain Spoiler Alerts!!**



Book Title: Up A Tree
Author: Richard M. Brock
Format: Kindle/Digital, ARC
Total Page Count/Location: 364 pages / 3524 kb
Book Genre(s): Humor, Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure, Middle Grade & Young Teen

Categories for Rating - see post at my blog for rating system:
https://the-book-nest.blogspot.com/20...

Each topic rated 0-10

0-2 = extremely poor, DNF'd (or seriously considered it), difficult to complete
3-4 = somewhat poor although not as bad as "0-2", may have had *some* redeeming qualities
5-6 = mediocre, neutral
7-8 = really good
9-10 = outstanding, exceptional

Then you average the 5 individual ratings to get the overall x out of 10 rating for the book. Once that is done, the overall rating is converted into the following star rating.

0 - 2 = ⭐ (1 star)
3 - 4 = ⭐⭐ (2 stars)
5 - 6 = ⭐⭐⭐ (3 stars)
7 - 8 = ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 stars)
9 - 10 = ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars)

**A. Characters: 5/6 ... While I realize this book is targeted mainly to middle school aged children, there were many times that the main character(s) - Ruby and Quinn - were not totally believable.
**B. Cover Art & Design: 7/7 ... The cover art does give the feel of the expression "up a tree" and does have the appeal that most middle grade students might like.
**C. Enjoyment: 5/7 ... I fluctuated a lot between liking it and not being overly impressed with it however I also found that I reminded myself that this book was geared more towards kids that are in middle grades than to actual adults. Doing that helped quite a bit. I *did* find the last 3rd of the book quite enjoyable and was happy with the ending, and glad I stuck it out.
**D. Plot (Storyline): 7/5.5 ... I'm being a tad generous here (and also because I'm not sure how to do 1/2 a star with WordPad LOL). All in all it was a good storyline, and it had a somewhat believable feel to it. I found the adventures that Ruby - and later, Quinn - find themselves in to be semi-believable... not being off the mountain at all, I can see them being in complete awe when seeing stuff that would have been "foreign" to them however at times it seemed almost *too* simplistic.
**E. Writing Style & Editing: 8/ ... It wasn't bad. It was enjoyable, easy to read and follow, no stumbling over words, for the most part. Every once in a while, during the conversation parts, if the boys were speaking in the Appalachian-style of speech, I might have had to take another glance, however it didn't happen very often. The writing was descriptive and entertaining.

***Additional Aspects of Book that I am reviewing (optional)***

**Pros: Clever and entertaining book, one that definitely should appeal to middle graders. Lots of fun and adventure to keep a pre-teen and/or early teenager, engaged.
**Cons: I guess my biggest gripe was the believability of the two main characters - which actually became more apparent as the story went on. While they were born and raised on the Appalachian Mountains, it is difficult to believe, in this day and age, that kids would not know basic geography for the country in which they reside. It seemed a little too stereo-typical, too "hokey" that those born and raised on the mountain are slow and uneducated and, at times, it seems this concept was spread on a little *too* thick.

**Memorable Quotes:

"History tells us that eventually you have to decide what is right and fight for it. Bad guys don't give up on their own. They are defeated - often at great cause."

**Personal Like/Dislike: While I don't want to give away too many spoilers, I will say that I liked Lodgepole, especially after you get past the initial interactions between him, Quinn and Ruby. Lodgepole is definitely the kind of person that first impressions can be *very* deceiving.


**Does this book "fit in" to the genre(s) it's listed under? yes
If no, why not?

**Final Notes: As I said previously, this book is definitely written with middle grade teenagers in mind. It has a nice, adventurous plot to it and, for the most part, personable and likable main characters.

In closing I would like to thank both the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to view this clever and interesting middle grade/teens book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Final Rating: 6.4 / 6.7 = 3⭐⭐⭐/3.5⭐⭐⭐
Note(s) on Rating: Overall, I think a decent rating. While I might not recommend this book to *everyone*, I do think that boys in the pre-teen to mid-teen ages might find this enjoyable.

This review can also be found here, on my book blog:
https://the-book-nest.blogspot.com/2021/08/review-up-tree-by-richard-m-brock.html

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I found this book slow to start and hard to get into, It could have been the juvenile voice of the main character/ narrator, but unfortunately I could not finish it,

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Honestly, I had a hard time getting going on this one at first. Once I got into it I loved it! It's told from the point of view of a rambling 12 year old boy, who is telling the FBI his side of a story. As his story unfolds, we see all of the crazy adventures he and Quinn got into when their town thought they were dead. The craziness they managed to find was really entertaining, even though they almost got themselves killed for real a few times. I have an almost 12 year old boy, and reading this was like listening to him telling a story. The author did a great job getting into the voice of a 12 year old boy. This was a fun read and good for all ages.

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This story reminds me a little bit of the movie The Goonies. In a limited sense. It is a very limited comparison. The Goonies had a small crew of adventure inclined kids who step into business that they shouldn’t be involved in and this story mostly just has Ruby Heckler. 12 year old Ruby is an orphan being raised in a small, rural New York town. Ruby is a typical 12 year old looking for his place in the world, while simultaneously having a boundless imagination in which the world is full of pirates and cops and robbers and Ruby is missing out on all of it. So when Ruby is witness to something he shouldn’t see, he falls into an accidental adventure that will carry him from rural New York to San Francisco. This story does a good job of blending together the inner narrative of a 12 year old with the often complex world of adult politics. This is a fun adventure tale that is at times funny and sad and nail biting. It’s also a super quick read and if you have a free day you could probably finish in one sitting. Review posted to Goodreads, Amazon and Litsy.

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This book is the adventure of Ruby Heckler and the tight spots that he and his best friend Quinn get into all over the northern states. Mark Twain couldn’t have put Tom and Huck into this kind of trouble.

Richard M. Brock creates a fantastical modernized Huck Finn-type story. Ruby Heckler is a very likable character who you root for no matter how crazy his adventures are. Up A Tree reminded me of a YA version of Forest Gump, in the way that Forest gets into the craziest situations that he doesn't realize are going to widen his experiences and help him grow more than the little town he grew up in.

I got to read this book while I visiting the Florida Everglades and although the Everglades is completely different than the settings in Up A Tree, it still added to the enjoyment of the story by adding a different place to escape while escaping into Ruby and Quinn's world.

If you would like to travel to places you may never go to, such as the homeless camp Ruby lands in while running away from police by mistaken identity, or other obscure places then this book is for you. Up A Tree not only entertained me, but it also helped me see people's lives in a different light. It added empathy to my soul, it enlarged my heart with the people that Ruby becomes friends with and the kindness that most have to help a young boy try to go home, but first to give him the adventure of his life!

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I wanted to like this book but I had a couple of problems with this book:
1.) The author should have put a warning in his book. This book is tagged for middle grade but it definitively has some langue kids shouldn't be saying in it. This book about two tween boys but all the swearing they use you would think this book is about adults. I understand an adult is writing this but all the swearing in this book was unnecessary.
After I finished this book I received an email from the author saying that indeed this book is not intended for young kids.

Richard seemed like he was trying to hard to copy Huckleberry Finn and he didn't do a good job at retelling the book.
2.) Not only was the dialogue spoken in a way that Huckleberry might have used, the time period was so confusing it wasn't very clear. The reader might think this book was set in 1970, 1850, or 2019. The author was trying to use langue from two different time periods.

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Oh my, what a wild ride. I agree with some reviewers, it was difficult to tell what time period the story was set. It really wasn't until Ruby was in the city and references were made to current events that we realize it IS current, otherwise it could have been anytime in the last 100 years. But maybe that was the intention, and Everyboy in Everyage on his Great Adventure. And boy, can Ruby spin a good yarn. Whether we are supposed to believe it or not, who cares? Ruby gets himself in a situation where he is believed to have been killed in a fire and realized, hm, I'm dead, I can do anything or go anywhere.... and proceeds to do just that. And off he goes, first to New York, where eventually his best friend Quinn joins him, and then they're off West, always with plans to be pirates or cowboys, and with considerable success along the way. This is mostly just good adventurous fun, with a nice dose of the importance of friendship, and how blood isn't always required to make family. Highly recommended. My copy was an ARC from NetGalley.

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I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the description of this book as a modern Huck Finn. I wouldn't go quite that far, but there are commonalities.

The book starts in the Adirondack Mountains where I live. That got my attention. The two boys, Ruby and Quinn are a delightful, precocious boys who run away and get into major mischief. Their friendship is one that is sure to be a classic, they are very, very funny together. I don't often actually laugh out loud while reading a book, but I did more times than I can count.

What kept me from giving this 5 stars is that the boys don't actually seem to be living in the 21st century, though I know they are. I think the author would have been better served setting this in the late 20th century, though the ending would have to be reworked.

And speaking of the ending, what was that? I didn't get it, though to be fair I finished the book at 2:30 am, so I could have just been really tired.

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I really liked this!! When I heard Huck Finn I knew I needed to read it. Chock full of adventure and I grew to love Ruby. Get ready to be fully entrenched in this adventure.

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I thought this was a fun, adventurous story. I think calling it a modern Huckleberry story might be a bit much, but it was an exciting read. I think this may be closer to a middle-grade story instead of a YA one. It reads a bit young for a YA reader. Overall, this had a lot of exciting, adventurous aspects that kept me turning the pages!

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I found Up A Tree to be delightful and surprisingly entertaining. Richard M. Brock uses a Mark Twain style of writing that reminds me of books that used to meander through towns and old memories as their stories unfolded. There are no cell phones and drive thrus here. This is just a boy, his friend and their adventures, whether it is hoping trains or sneaking through backyards. In the end you must go home again, but not with out many adventures Up A Tree.

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A very charming, nostalgic read. Conjures memories of childhood make-believe in a more simple time. A great option for younger readers without seeming pedantic.

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This book is being touted as a Mark Twain/Huck Finn book for the 21st century. I think that is mostly correct, as the main protagonists Ruby and Quinn do remind me of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but without the casual bigotry that you sometimes find in those books. However, there is one aspect of this that really bothered me. Slight spoiler alert here! In the book, Ruby gets trapped inside a building that explodes. He manages to escape, and then runs away. Everyone thinks he is dead, and he realizes this, but lets them think he is dead so that he can go do his thing. I don't know why, but this aspect of the story bothered me very much. Letting people think you are dead is bad enough as an adult, but a kid doing it just rubs me the wrong way. I understand this action was the impetus for the greater story. It is what got the plot engine going. But I still did not like it, even if I did enjoy the rest of the book. Kids really are smarter than adults sometimes, and this book proves it. So four stars instead of five for the one thing I couldn't get over in an otherwise wonderful book.

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An entertaining adventure read. The characters were interesting with a coming to age feel about them. I enjoyed the book however felt it could have been a shorter novel as my interest waned halfway through and I felt that I just needed to finish it. I would recommend it to others to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

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This book rang true to it's description as a modern day Huck Finn. I thoroughly enjoyed reading, Up A Tree, and highly recommend it to others who enjoy a little blast from the past feel that the book provides.

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Trouble begins for Ruby Finn Heckler and his best friend Quinn after an accident with a stolen rifle. Their attempt to remedy their mistake causes a local skirmish with one of the most influential families in America, leading to Ruby's "death" -- or so their small Adirondack town thinks. Plenty alive, and never one to miss an adventure, Ruby takes advantage of his misreported demise and within a day, he is hundreds of miles from home, befriending mothers, murderers, hobos, and revolutionaries, (Publisher notes).
While this book was rated for middle school, I really question its appropriateness for younger than mid teens. It is so unrealistic that the story did not feel genuine, but rather an updated version of Tom Sawyer slathered with contemporary issues and very tall tales. Unlike adventure stories where the protagonist is a problem solver, in Up A Tree, Ruby falls into all kinds of impulsive trouble that, but for so many kind adults, would have led to certain disaster. I think a gifted middle schooler would be aghast at his choices instead of relating to or immersing in the adventure.

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