"Guard this letter as you would your life!" With these words ringing in his ears, Biff Brewster boards the Brazil-bound plane to join his father on a safari to the headwaters of the Amazon River - a safari that, to Biff’s amazement, becomes a deadly contest for fabulous riches. From the beginning, Biff, his father, Biff’s friend Kamuka, and the rest of the party find their path menaced by an enemy who never reveals himself. Is it Nicholas Serbot, the suave stranger whom Bill first meets on the plane? Or is it Joe Nara, the eccentric old prospector, the only white man alive who knows the route to the almost legendary El Dorado gold mine? Biff and Kamuka find their days crowded with the hazards and thrills of jungle travel as they trek through a wilderness echoing with the threat of "Macu"-- the dreaded headhunters. And waiting for them at the end of the trail are a shock and a surprise beyond their wildest dreams. Young readers will love this lively, adventure-filled story with its combination of realism and fantastic mystery.
Biff Brewster, sixteen, is a tall, strongly built blond youth who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his parents and the eleven-year-old twins, Ted and Monica. Because his mother and father believe that travel is as important to education as formal schooling, Biff is encouraged to travel to various countries during the vacation months. His experiences in these lands, and the young people he meets there, form the basis of a new series for adventure-loving readers. In every journey there is a strong element of mystery, usually a direct result of conditions peculiar to the region in which he is traveling. Thus, in addition to adventure, these books impart carefully researched information about foreign countries.
Andy Adams is the Grosset & Dunlap pseudonym for three writers who authored the Biff Brewster series of adventure and mystery novels for adolescent boys in the early and mid-1960s. The real-world authors were Walter B. Gibson, Edward Pastore, and Peter Harkins.
Biff Brewster starred in a series of thirteen boys' adventure novels published between 1960-1965 by Grosset & Dunlap. The books were written by three authors under the Stratemeyer Syndicate house name pseudonym Andy Adams, one of whom was none other than Walter B. Gibson, the famous author of The Shadow series. (Yeah, -that- guy, the one who knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men!) In this first book Biff is introduced, and goes off to the wilds of the Amazon River with his father, a mining engineer, for adventure and intrigue. Though the particulars of social aspects and technological developments of the stories are now pretty dated, they were intelligent and interesting books, with a good depiction of exotic locations and a sympathetic view of foreign cultures.
A fun adventure for kids that I’m sure I would have enjoyed when I was young. Though now as an adult I couldn’t help thinking of indigenous rights and mining abuses. Growing up is boring.
A book first published in 1960 but the kind of classic adventure story I loved reading as a kid, when I was still dreaming of becoming an explorer and going on adventures around the globe. This would definitely have been a book I'd picked up from the library in my youth, if it had been there in the first place.
It's an adventure -- with a twist at the end I didn't see coming. I was as surprised as Biff was. *wink* (not gonna spoil it)
It's very well written with interesting characters. Looking forward to more in this series.
How about an Amazon adventure for a teen boy and his dad, just after WW2, in search of mythical gold? This was a fun romp of a story with shades of Indiana Jones and a mystery as well. Listened on LibriVox.