Hobbs, Will 1947-

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Hobbs, Will 1947-

(William Carl Hobbs)

Personal

Born August 22, 1947, in Pittsburgh, PA; son of Gregory J. and Mary Hobbs; married Jean Loftus (a former teacher and literary agent), December 20, 1972. Education: Stanford University, B.A., 1969, M.A., 1971. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking in the mountains and canyons, white water rafting, archaeology, natural history.

Addresses

Home—Durango, CO.

Career

Educator and author of children's books. Pagosa Springs, CO, and Durango, CO, public schools, taught middle school and high school reading and English, 1973-89; writer, 1990—.

Member

Authors Guild, Phi Beta Kappa.

Awards, Honors

Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council (NCSS/CBC), 1988, and Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, 1992, both for Changes in Latitudes; NCSS/CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, 1989, Best Books for Young Adults designation, American Library Association (ALA), 1989, and Teachers' Choice citation, International Reading Association (IRA), and Regional Book Award, Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association, both 1990, all for Bearstone; Pick of the Lists choice, American Booksellers Association (ABA), 1991, ALA Best Books for Young Adults and Best Books for Reluctant Young-Adult Readers citations, 1992, included among ALA 100 Best Young-Adult Books of the Past Twenty-five Years, 1994, and California Young Readers Medal, 1995, all for Downriver; ALA Best Books for Young Adults designation, 1993, for The Big Wander; ABA Pick of the Lists choice and ALA Best Books for Young Adults designation, both 1993, and Spur Award, Western Writers of America, and Colorado Book Award, all for Beardance; NCSS/CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, 1995, for Kokopelli's Flute; ALA Top-Ten Best Books for Young Adults choice and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young-Adult Readers choice, and NCSS/CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, all 1996, Spur Award, and Colorado Book Award, all for Far North; ABA Pick of the Lists choice, 1997, and Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1998, both for Ghost Canoe; ABA Pick of the Lists designation, 1997, and Colorado Center for the Book Award, 1998, both for Beardream; IRA Young-Adult Choice selection, 1998, for River Thunder; ALA Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers designations, ABA Pick of the Lists choice, and IRA Teachers' Choice selection, all 1998, all for The Maze; ALA Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selections, ABA Pick of the Lists choice, and NCSS/CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, all 1999, all for Jason's Gold; National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students designation and Children's Literature Young-Adult Choice designation, both 2003, both for Wild Man Island; NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students designation, 2004, for Jackie's Wild Seattle; IRA Notable Books for a Global Society designation and Southwest Book Award, both 2007, both for Crossing the Wire; nominations for numerous state readers' choice awards.

Writings

YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS

Changes in Latitudes, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1988.

Bearstone, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989.

Downriver, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1991.

The Big Wander, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1992.

Beardance, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1993.

Kokopelli's Flute, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Far North, Morrow (New York, NY), 1996.

Ghost Canoe, Morrow (New York, NY), 1997.

River Thunder, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1997.

The Maze, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998.

Jason's Gold, Morrow (New York, NY), 1999.

Down the Yukon, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Wild Man Island, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Jackie's Wild Seattle, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Leaving Protection, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Crossing the Wire, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

Go Big or Go Home, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Horn Book, ALAN Review, Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Book Links, Signal, Voices from the Middle, Voice of Youth Advocates, and numerous state journals.

PICTURE BOOKS

Beardream, illustrated by Jill Kastner, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

Howling Hill, illustrated by Jill Kastner, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998.

Adaptations

Hobbs's novels have been adapted for audiocassette by Recorded Books, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, and Listening Library. Bearstone was adapted as a play by Karen Glenn, published in Scholastic Scope, January 14, 1994. Jason's Gold and Down the Yukon were adapted as plays published in READ magazine.

Sidelights

The wilderness-based novels of author Will Hobbs, which include Bearstone, Kokopelli's Flute, Far North, and Down the Yukon have been well received by both his young-adult fans and reviewers. A large part of Hobbs's success as a writer is due to the fact that he knows what his audience—predominately middle-school and high school boys—likes. A former English teacher, Hobbs noted in the Colorado Reading Council Journal that "if kids come to care about and identify with the characters in stories, they will also learn more about and ultimately care more about preserving the treasures of our natural world." Since his first novel appeared in 1988, Hobbs has seen his readership grow, with the result that almost all of his books have remained in print due to the demands of each new generation of fans.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hobbs and his family moved to the Panama Canal Zone when the future author was less than a year old. His father's Air Force career was behind several family moves, including stints in Virginia, Alaska, California, and Texas. Having siblings made the moves easier because all four of the Hobbs children were involved in scouting and had a love of the out-of-doors inspired by their parents.

Although Hobbs hiked and backpacked in many regions, it was the Southwest that most captured his imagination, and he spent several summers during high school and college as a guide and camp director at New Mexico's Philmont Scout Ranch. In 1973, after graduating from Stanford University, he and his wife Jean moved to a remote area of southwestern Colorado, near the San Juan Mountains and the Weminuche Wilderness, and now looks out from his writing desk at snowcapped mountain peaks.

In beginning his writing career in his early thirties, Hobbs was inspired by his local surroundings, and his first novel, Bearstone, is set in the Weminuche Wilderness near the Hobbs family's Colorado home. Published after eight years' worth of work, Bearstone focuses on Cloyd, a Ute Indian boy who has been sent by his tribe in Utah to spend the summer with an old rancher named Walter. Angry and hostile, Cloyd distrusts the old man's affection. While exploring the mountains near Walter's ranch, Cloyd discovers a Native American burial site and a small bearstone. Inspired by his discovery, the boy renames himself Lone Bear and learns how to "live in a good way," as his grandmother has taught him. An incident concerning a hunter who illegally kills a grizzly bear forces Cloyd to decide between revealing the truth and getting revenge or keeping silent. Cloyd's story continues in Beardance, as he rides into the mountains with Walter in search of a lost gold mine. Then they hear that a mother grizzly has been sighted with her three cubs. While searching for the cubs, Cloyd meets a wildlife biologist with the same goal; after the mother bear is reported killed, the boy risks his life in an effort to save the orphaned grizzly cubs and remains alone in the mountains despite winter's approach.

In praising Bearstone, School Library Journal contributor George Gleason described Hobbs's first novel as "far above other coming-of-age stories." Hobbs's young protagonist's "first experiences with spirit dreams are particularly well done," wrote Horn Book critic Elizabeth S. Watson in a review of Beardance, while Merlyn Miller observed in the Voice of Youth Advocates that the novel "weaves Native American legends with real adventure. Not only is Cloyd connected with his ancestry," Miller added, "but he's focused with courage, determination, and strength."

The main characters in Beardance and Bearstone return in Hobbs's first picture book, Beardream. Illustrated by Jill Kastner, Beardream describes how a boy called Short Tail awakens an oversleeping grizzly bear from hibernation, and how, in ancient times, the Ute people learned the bear dance from the bears. In an author's note at the end of Beardream, Hobbs stated: "It is my belief that future generations of the human family will have greater and greater need for the inspiration of native wisdom, which sees humankind not apart from nature, but as a part of nature." In the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, a critic recommended that the picture book be read aloud in order that the listener may "experience the beautiful … language that is a hallmark of Hobbs's work."

Hobbs's second novel—and the first of his books to see print—Changes in Latitudes was inspired by a photograph Hobbs saw in National Geographic that depicted a sea turtle swimming underwater. Curious as to what it would be like to swim with the turtles, Hobbs developed a story in which imaginative readers can take that swim with the turtles while also gaining compassion for endangered species. In the novel, sixteen-year-old Travis is the oldest of three siblings. Cynical and self-absorbed, he tries to hide from his problems by withdrawing into his own "cool" world. Vacationing in Mexico with their mother, the teen and his younger brother, Teddy, learn about the plight of the region's sea turtles. When Teddy dies attempting to rescue some turtles, Travis learns to deal with adversity and discovers that strength is gained by overcoming, rather than running away, from setbacks. Nancy Vasilakis, writing in Horn Book, wrote that, in Changes in Latitudes, Hobbs "neatly balances the perilous situation of these ancient lumbering sea creatures against the breakdown of [Travis's] … family." The critic also commended the author for his "sensitive ear for the language of the young."

Having rowed his own whitewater raft through the rapids of the Grand Canyon ten times, Hobbs is familiar with the dangers and the beauty of the journey, and he shares this with readers in Downriver. Narrated by

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Jessie, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been sent away from home, the novel follows seven teens on a raft trip down the Grand Canyon. Jessie and the rest of the group—known as the "Hoods in the Woods"—leave their leader behind and take off on their own, making their own decisions and coping with the consequences. Downriver "is exquisitely plotted, with nail-biting suspense and excitement," wrote George Gleason in a review for School Library Journal, while in Booklist Candace Smith commended the book's rafting scenes. "The scenery description is beautiful and the kids are believable," concluded Mary Ojibway in her enthusiastic review of Downriver for Voice of Youth Advocates.

Returning in River Thunder, Jessie gets the chance to row through the Grand Canyon by herself. Unexpectedly high water on the Colorado forces Jessie and the rest of the Hoods in the Woods gang to confront their fears when raging rapids threaten. Deborah Stevenson, reviewing River Thunder for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, described the novel's adventure sequences as "terrific and involving," while in School Library Journal Joel Shoemaker wrote that Hobbs's "descriptions deliver high-volume excitement sure to entice many readers."

Although he has experienced first-hand many of the adventures he writes about in his young-adult novels, Hobbs's descriptions of hang gliding in The Maze are based on time spent with friends who fly, watching them jump off cliffs and soar. Hobbs sets his story in the Maze, a remote region of Canyonlands National Park in Utah, an area noted for its beauty. Like Icarus, young protagonist Rick Walker attempts to fly out of his own personal labyrinth, a life of foster homes and dead ends. "Rick is a richly-textured character," noted Sarah K. Herz in her Voice of Youth Advocates review of the novel. Todd Morning, writing in School Library Journal, asserted that "what sets this book apart is the inclusion of fascinating details about the condors and hang gliding, especially the action-packed description of Rick's first solo flight above the canyons." "Hobbs spins an engrossing yarn, blending adventure with a strong theme," wrote Horn Book writer Mary M. Burns, and Morning deemed The Maze "an adventure story [readers] … can't put down."

A sea-kayaking trip in southeast Alaska with his wife inspired the setting for Hobbs's novel Wild Man Island. As readers meet fourteen-year-old Andy Galloway, the book's narrator, Andy has come to the end of an enjoyable guided sea-kayaking vacation. Now, while preparing to return home, he takes his kayak and decides to make a quick, two-mile trip to Hidden Falls, the place where his archaeologist dad accidentally met his death years before. When a freak storm arises, Andy and his craft are washed ashore on a wild, remote island. Hunger, cold, and roaming grizzly bears threaten the teen's life until a Newfoundland dog befriends him and leads Andy to a cave that turns out to be the home of a strange, man that seems to be a Neolithic holdover but ultimately reveals his true history. "Hobbs resolves the story's complexities in ways that protect the characters' integrity," commented Joel Shoemaker in School Library Journal, while in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy James Blasingame wrote that the novel's "conflicts are resolved in a satisfying conclusion." Wild Man Island features the "short, pithy chapters" guaranteed to "attract readers, reluctant and otherwise," according to Burns, and in Kirkus Reviews a critic commended the novel as "a rugged, satisfying episode for outdoorsy readers."

Jackie's Wild Seattle takes its name from a wildlife rehabilitation center in Seattle, Washington, where fourteen-year-old Shannon and little brother Cody come to spend their summer vacation. During their stay, the siblings become involved in their Uncle Neal's work with animals, and after Neil is injured, quickly learn how to work with the injured and orphaned coyotes, bear cubs, raccoons, and birds of prey they find in the city. Commenting on Hobbs's back story—Cody is still haunted by the fall of Manhattan's Twin Towers, which he witnessed from a cliff near his New Jersey home, a Kirkus Reviews writer deemed the novel an "absorbing story about animal rehabilitation, the state of the world, fear, achievement, and trust." Writing that "this exciting, poignant, and beautifully developed story covers a crucial few weeks for several people whose lives intertwine to change and benefit all," Mary R. Hoffman added in her School Library Journal review that Jackie's Wild Seattle "will reach deep into the hearts of young readers."

A meeting with a teacher from Craig a town on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, inspired Hobbs's novel Leaving Protection. The teacher, who had earned her way through college working on her father's fishing boat, now invited the popular novelist to work on her family's boat, and write a novel about life on a salmon trawler. In the novel, when sixteen-year-old Robbie Daniels leaves his home in Port Protection for the nearby fishing town of Craig, he hopes to find work as a deck hand on a commercial fishing boat during king salmon season. Therefore, the teen can hardly believe his good fortune when legendary fisherman Tor Torsen hires him on. Out on the open ocean, alone with Tor, Robbie discovers the reason for his seeming good luck: his mysterious captain is not only fishing, he is searching along the coastline for the historic metal plaques that were buried by early Russian explorers laying claim to Alaska. After Robbie learns how valuable these possession plaques are, Tor's wrath and a violent storm at sea put his courage and wit to the ultimate test. Leaving Protection is a "nautical thriller [that] brims with detail about the fishing life," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, adding that the novel's "climactic finale involving a dramatic and fateful storm at sea [is] grippingly rendered." Reviewing Hobbs's book for School Library Journal, Jeffrey Hastings praised Leaving Protection as "straightforward outdoor fiction laced with bracing action and heady suspense."

A timely novel that focuses on the problem of illegal immigration in America, Crossing the Wire introduces readers to fifteen-year-old Victor Flores, a Mexican teen who, since his father's tragic death, has become the main breadwinner to his mother and four younger siblings. Unable to support his family through farming, Victor attempts the dangerous trip north across the border, encountering fast-moving trains, mountain and desert crossings, drug smugglers, border guards, and unscrupulous men hoping to take advantage of the teen's desperation. In Kirkus Reviews a critic wrote that "Hobbs has created a pageturning adventure set squarely in the real world," adding that the novelist "offers no easy answers." In an author's note, Hobbs wrote that he wrote Crossing the Wire to "put a human face" to the quandary of the Mexicans risking all to find a better life in America. Noting that the novel is "gritty and realistic," Paula Rohrlick concluded in her Kliatt review that, whatever their personal opinions regarding the immigration question, readers "will … appreciate Victor's desperation, determination, and courage."

Hobbs weaves elements of fantasy into his characteristic Western setting in Kokopelli's Flute. Thirteen-year-old Tepary Jones and his dog, Dusty, journey to the ruins of an ancient Anasazi cliff house overlooking the canyons near the boy's home on a seed farm in New Mexico. Hoping to see a total eclipse of the full moon from this remote location, Tep soon realizes that he is not alone when he surprises looters searching for Anasazi artifacts. Picking up an ancient Anasazi flute made of eagle bone that the looters had dropped in their hurry to escape, the teen is pulled into the grip of an ancient magic which transforms him each night into a bushy-tailed woodrat. With the help of Dusty, Tep is able to track down the looters and also obtains the medicinal herbs needed to save his mother from a deadly sickness. Hobbs "blends fantasy with fact so smoothly that the resulting mix can be consumed without question," wrote Darcy Schild in a School Library Journal review of the popular novel, while in Voice of Youth Advocates Nancy Zachary called Kokopelli's Flute "an engaging and delightful tale."

In Far North Hobbs leads readers up into the rugged wilderness of Canada's Northwest Territories. Gabe Rogers, almost sixteen years old and fresh from Texas, enrolls in a boarding school in Yellowknife in order to be closer to his father, who works on nearby diamond exploration rigs. Gabe's roommate, Raymond Providence, a native teen from a remote Dene village, decides to quit school after only a few months, and on a flight home in a small bush plane both Raymond and Gabe end up stranded on the banks of the Nahanni River. The boys' winter survival story was described by Horn Book contributor Mary M. Burns as "a thrill-a-minute account" of a battle "against seemingly impossible odds." According to Burns, Far North "is not just another page-turner; there are deeper issues addressed," such as the differences between the two boys' cultures. Calling the novel a "classic Hobbs adventure," Diane Tuccillo wrote in Voice of Youth Advocates that in Far North "characters are well-drawn, and excitement and energy penetrate their entire trek."

Hobbs ventures into mystery with Ghost Canoe, winner of an Edgar Allan Poe award for best young-adult mystery. Set in 1874, along the storm-tossed coast of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, this story follows fourteen-year-old Nathan MacAllister, the son of a lighthouse keeper. When a mysterious shipwreck leaves behind a set of unexplained footprints on the shore, Nathan suspects something is amiss. Writing in School Library Journal, Gerry Larson called Ghost Canoe "a winning tale that artfully combines history, nature, and suspense." In the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Elizabeth Bush noted that although the book's mystery is predictable, there is enough action "to keep the pages flipping."

Also set in the past—this time amid the Klondike gold rush of 1897-98—Jason's Gold follows Jason Hawthorn as he races to catch up to his older brothers who have taken off for the gold fields in Canada's Yukon. Along the way he meets a not-yet-famous Jack London, the author of White Fang, and develops a romantic relationship with traveling performer Jamie Dunavant. Mostly he travels alone, with King, a husky he rescues from a madman. In Jason's Gold Hobbs creates an action-packed adventure story filled with vivid descriptions of bone-chilling cold, personal courage, and friendship, and he continues Jason's saga in Down the Yukon. As the book begins, Jason's brother Ethan loses the family sawmill business to Cornelius Donner in a poker game. Now sixteen years old, Jason is determined to regain the sawmill. Together with Ethan and girlfriend Jamie, he decides to compete in a canoe race to Nome in which the winner will receive 20,000 dollars in prize money. Unfortunately, ne'er-do-well Donner, who swindled the business from Ethan, has also entered the race; now he and his henchmen manage to sabotage the brothers' canoe. "The ending, though predictable, features an appropriate twist," remarked Booklist critic Catherine Andronik in her review of Down the Yukon, while School Library Journal reviewer Vicki Reutter deemed the novel "more exciting than its predecessor."

Commenting on his decision to write for a teen audience, Hobbs noted on his home page: "My first hope for my novels is that they tell a good story, that the reader will keep turning the pages and will hate to see the story end. Beyond that, I hope to be inspiring a love for the natural world. I'd like my readers to appreciate and to care more about what's happening to wild creatures, wild places, and the diversity of life."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Continuum (New York, NY), 2001.

Gallo, Donald R., editor, Speaking for Ourselves Too, National Council of Teachers of English, 1993.

Hobbs, Will, Beardream, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

Hobbs, Will, Ghost Canoe, Morrow (New York, NY), 1997.

Writers for Young Adults, edited by Ted Hipple, Scribner (New York, NY), 1997, pp. 121-129.

PERIODICALS

ALAN Review, fall, 1994.

Booklist, March 1, 1991, Candace Smith, review of Downriver, p. 1377; October 15, 1992, p. 424; May 1, 1997; September 1, 1997, p. 106; September 1, 1998, p. 126; February 15, 2000, Jeanette Larson, review of Ghost Canoe (audiobook), p. 1128; March 15, 2000, review of Jason's Gold, p. 1340; April 1, 2001, Catherine Andronik, review of Down the Yukon, p. 1482; November 15, 2001, Anna Rich, review of Down the Yukon, p. 589; April 15, 2002, review of Wild Man Island, p. 1395; June 1, 2003, Traci Todd, review of Jackie's Wild Seattle, p. 1776; May 1, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Crossing the Wire, p. 83.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April, 1997, Elizabeth Bush, review of Ghost Canoe, p. 285; July, 1997, Deborah Stevenson, review of River Thunder, pp. 397-398; May, 2003, review of Jackie's Wild Seattle, p. 363; July-August, 2006, Maggie Hommel, review of Crossing the Wire, p. 500.

California Reader, winter, 1992, pp. 15-16.

Colorado Reading Council Journal, spring, 1993, pp. 7-9.

Five Owls, fall, 2001, review of Kokopelli's Flute, The Maze, Downriver, and Beardance, p. 2.

Horn Book, May-June, 1988, p. 358; January-February, 1993, p. 91; January-February, 1994, Elizabeth S. Watson, review of Beardance, p. 70; March-April, 1996; November-December, 1996, p. 745; September-October, 1998, Mary M. Burns, review of The Maze, p. 609; July-August, 2002, Mary M. Burns, review of Wild Man Island, p. 462.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, September, 1997, review of Beardream, p. 83; May, 2000, Joel Taxel, review of The Maze, pp. 780-781; February, 2003, James Blasingame, review of Wild Man Island, pp. 442-443.

Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, spring, 1995.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 1997, p. 462; March 15, 2002, review of Wild Man Island, p. 413; March 15, 2003, review of Jackie's Wild Seattle, p. 468; March 15, 2004, review of Leaving Protection, p. 270; March 1, 2006, review of Crossing the Wire, p. 154.

Kliatt, September, 1999, p. 8; March, 2002, Claire Rosser, review of Wild Man Island, p. 11; July, 2002, Michele Winship, review of Down the Yukon, p. 20; March, 2003, Claire Rosser, review of Jackie's Wild Seattle, p. 12; May, 2003, Claire Rosser, review of Wild Man Island, p. 235; March, 2004, Paula Rohrlick review of Leaving Protection, p. 25; July, 2004, Myrna Marler, review of Far North, p. 192; March, 2006, Paula Rohrlick, review of Crossing the Wire, p. 12.

Publishers Weekly, February 12, 1988, p. 88; February 1, 1991, pp. 80-81; November 2, 1992, p. 72; October 12, 1998, review of Howling Hill, p. 77; April 12, 2004, review of Leaving Protection, p. 67.

School Library Journal, March, 1988, pp. 212, 214; September, 1989, p. 272; March, 1991, George Gleason, review of Downriver, p. 212; November, 1992, p. 92; December, 1993, p. 134; October, 1995, p. 134; April, 1997, Leda Schubert, review of Beardream, p. 104; September, 1997, Joel Shoemaker, review of River Thunder, p. 217; October 1998, Virginia Golodetz, review of Howling Hill, p. 102; May, 2001, Vicki Reutter, review of Down the Yukon, p. 150; May, 2002, Joel Shoemaker, review of Wild Man Island, p. 154; May, 2003, Mary R. Hofmann, review of Jackie's Wild Seattle, p. 153; April, 2004, Jeffrey Hastings, re- view of Leaving Protection, p. 156; December, 2006, Larry Cooperman, review of Crossing the Wire, p. 70.

Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 1991, Mary Ojibway, review of Downriver, pp. 171-172; December, 1992, p. 279; December, 1993, p. 292; February, 1996, p. 372; February, 1997, p. 328; October, 1997, Cindy Lombardo, review of River Thunder, p. 244; February, 1999, Sarah K. Herz, review of The Maze, p.434; June, 2001, review of Down the Yukon, p. 122; June, 2002, review of Wild Man Island, p. 118; August, 2003, review of Jackie's Wild Seattle, p. 224; October, 2004, Tim Brennan, review of Leaving Protection, p. 202; April 2006, Walter Hogan, review of Crossing the Wire, p. 46.