Campbell, Eric 1941–

PERSONAL: Born October 18, 1941, in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England; married; wife's name Judith; children: Jeremy, Rebecca. Hobbies and other interests: Playing piano.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Harcourt Trade Division, 525 B St., Ste. 1900, San Diego, CA 92101.

CAREER: Educator and school administrator in Papua New Guinea, and Tanzania.

WRITINGS:

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

The Place of Lions, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA), 1991.

The Year of the Leopard Song, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA), 1992.

The Shark Callers, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1994.

Elephant Gold, Macmillan Children's Books (London, England), 1997, published as Papa Tembo, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1998.

SIDELIGHTS: Eric Campbell, who has spent many years living in Tanzania and Papua New Guinea, sets his young-adult novels in these regions. His first, The Place of Lions, focuses on Chris, a London teen who is excited about leaving school and spending three years with his father on assignment in Tanzania. The anticipation ends, however, when their plane crashes in the Serengeti, and only Chris is able to function as his father and the pilot lay injured. He builds a shelter, then makes his way through the jungle to find help. A nearby pride of lions seems threatening, but when a younger male wins the right to lead the pride, the former alpha, an aging lion, follows Chris on a parallel journey, except that his destination is his birthplace, where he is going to die. As the story progresses, Chris and the lion help each other on a number of occasions. Other characters include Mike Taylor, a game preserve manager who leads photographic safaris, and a pair of poachers who threaten the region's elephant population.

The Year of the Leopard Song, is about two young men, one white, one black, who share the same birth date. When Alan Edwards returns to his father's coffee-growing operation in Tanzania after a year in England, he is greeted by his friend Kimathi, who is destined to be his tribe's Leopard Warrior, and whose prey will be Alan. The two eventually face off on the mountain peaks of Kilimanjaro. Another character in the story is a Tanzanian police chief who exploits his own people and violates human rights. In reviewing The Year of the Leopard Song in Books for Keeps, David Bennett noted that the author's references to the conflict between the old and the new Africa "raises this above mere adventure."

The Shark Callers, set off the cost of Papua New Guinea, consists of two related stories told in alternating chapters. After a volcanic eruption, the resultant tsunami capsizes the boat of Andy Thompson and his family, while at the same time, Kaleku, a native boy, is on his quest for manhood, which he can attain only by killing a shark. The two never meet as they tread the dangerous waters, but when Kaleku calls a school of sharks, he unknowingly saves Andy's life, while risking his own. "Kaleku's story … has a mythic elegiac quality which makes the outcome seem inevitable and right," wrote Elspeth S. Scott in School Librarian. School Library Journal contributor Steven Engelfried felt that Campbell does a good job of building the suspense, "skillfully describing violent and intense moments, and neatly integrates background information about geology and sailing into the story." The town of Rabaul, which is described in the story was actually destroyed by two volcanoes that began erupting in September of 1994. Books for Keeps critic Linda Newberry commented that Campbell provides a "vivid sense of the beauties and dangers of the natural world."

Elephant Gold, published in the United States as Papa Tembo, is patterned after Moby Dick, the theme of which is the pursuit of an almost mythical beast by a single man. Papa Tembo is an ancient elephant, and Laurens van der Wel is an aging poacher who was left damaged and twisted when Papa Tembo ran over him after van der Wel massacred the bull's herd of fifty elephants. Seeking revenge, the aging man is thwarted by others who have the best interests of the elephant at heart. They include Hyram T. Johnson, an American who works to protect endangered species, and the Blake family, researchers who are monitoring Papa Tembo's new herd. Booklist reviewer Michael Cart commented that Campbell "writes with great authority about his setting, about elephants, and … about those who destroy them illegally for their tusks." Kate Foldy wrote in School Library Journal that, "vividly written and conscientious, this tale weaves together the beauty and danger of the physical landscape with the intriguing psychological landscapes of humans and elephants."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1994, Merri Monks, review of The Shark Callers, p. 590; August, 1998, Michael Cart, review of Papa Tembo, p. 1990.

Books for Keeps, July, 1992, David Bennett, review of The Year of the Leopard Song, p. 14; January, 1994, Linda Newberry, review of The Shark Callers, p. 9.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1991, review of The Place of Lions, pp. 1158-1159.

Publishers Weekly, August 24, 1998, review of Papa Tembo, p. 57.

School Librarian, February, 1994, Elspeth S. Scott, review of The Shark Callers, p. 30.

School Library Journal, November, 1992, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, review of The Year of the Leopard Song, p. 116; September, 1994, Steven Engelfried, review of The Shark Callers, p. 238; October, 1998, Kate Foldy, review of Papa Tembo, p. 132.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1991, Marlene M. Kuhl, review of The Place of Lions, p. 306.