Hunter's Choice (McCall Mountain)

by Trent Reedy

Overview

This propulsive adventure takes readers on a first hunt in the American wilderness—and face to face with the choice to kill or not to kill.

Twelve-year-old Hunter Higgins has been dreaming about his first hunting trip for as long as he can remember. He’s taken the classes, earned his license, and become one of the best marksmen in his family. Now he’s old enough to join his father, grandfather, and uncle at their cabin for the first weekend of hunting season.

There’s only one problem: Hunter isn’t sure he can kill an animal. To make things more complicated, when they arrive at the cabin, his cousin Yumi is there with her friend Annette, who Hunter secretly has a crush on. Anxious about the hunt and the humiliation of possibly failing, Hunter grapples with what it means to have the power of life and death in his hands, and must decide what role he wishes to play in his relationship to nature and to wildlife.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324011385
Publisher:	Norton Young Readers
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Series:	McCall Mountain
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Trent Reedy is the author of eight middle grade titles and has won numerous honors, awards, and nominations. A U.S. Army vet, Reedy grew up in Iowa and now lives in rural Washington with his wife and daughter.

Editorial Reviews

03/01/2021

In the small town of McCall, Idaho, Hunter Higgins, 12, has spent years preparing for “the weekend of his first-ever hunt,” a coming-of-age ceremony in his white family. Now that he’s completed gun safety training, Hunter finally gets to join his lawyer father, construction worker grandfather, and Uncle Rick, an Army National Guard member—who served in Afghanistan 10 years ago and whose PTSD-like symptoms threaten to estrange him from his wife and daughter—on the last hunt of the season. There’s just one problem: though Hunter desperately wants to bag his first buck to prove himself, he feels deep uncertainty over killing an animal. His plans are upset when Yumi, Uncle Rick’s half-Japanese, half-white daughter and Hunter’s best friend and classmate, and her bespectacled friend Annette Willard, Hunter’s secret crush, show up at the family lodge to join the hunt, shifting the hunters’ all-male dynamic. Vividly realistic passages about shooting and hunting enrich the narrative, while explorations of toxic masculine attitudes in hunting culture, fear of failure, and trauma underscore the steady action. Though a slightly contrived final act and overly neat ending muddle the thematic impact, intertwining Hunter’s growth with his uncle’s narrative makes for an emotionally satisfying read. Ages 9–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"A paean to hunting... notable for its verisimilitude and well-realized setting, the Idaho wilderness."

Booklist

04/02/2021

Gr 5–7—Turning 12 is a big deal in the Higgins family, because it means Hunter can be part of hunting expeditions. The sixth grader, who is white, is ready—he's taken the safety courses, learned the skills, and has had plenty of target practice—but he's not sure if he'll be able to actually shoot a living deer. Reedy lightly explores topics like mental health and gender dynamics, but the character development remains secondary to the plot. VERDICT Recommended for fans of hunting adventure stories or others looking for a plot-driven middle grade book with a modern rural setting. Not a first purchase.—Gesse Stark-Smith, Multnomah County Lib., Portland, OR

School Library Journal

2021-03-02
Can Hunter live up to his name?

Hunter Higgins is 12, and it feels like his whole life has been leading to this weekend: his first deer hunt. His family is a hunting family, and their land in the Idaho wilderness has been its emotional center for decades. Hunter’s taken all the classes, has perfected his shooting, earned his license—but still he wonders whether he can actually take a life. He keeps this worry bottled up as his family gathers at their lodge: his father, his grandfather, his uncle, and his cousin, Yumi, who’s also 12—and, unexpectedly, Yumi’s friend Annette, their classmate and Hunter’s secret crush. Now Hunter has to navigate his family’s expectations and Annette. Reedy introduces a powerful subplot in Yumi’s difficult relationship with her father, a veteran whose experiences in Afghanistan have left hidden scars. Reedy’s familiarity with the terrain, the culture of the outdoors, and combat breathe authenticity into the narrative; as Hunter reflects, “A non-shooter would probably never be able to understand what this felt like.” Hunter’s rural Idaho world is populated by folks like the Higginses; the ethics of hunting are not called into question. It is also mostly White, with Yumi and her mom’s presumed Japanese heritage hinted at in their names. Readers from outside Hunter’s culture may find such details as the lodge’s all-camo decor cartoonish, but those from within it should feel at home.

For kids who, like Hunter, can’t get enough of Hatchet. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews