Dunc Breaks the Record

Culpepper Adventures #6

by Gary Paulsen

Having read about a boy who survived fifty-four days in the forest is little help to Amos when he and Dunc try hang gliding and crash in the wilderness, where they are kidnapped by a wild man

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Childrens

83 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

You can count on Dunc Culpepper and Amos Binder to try something crazy in each book, and one of their craziest stunts yet is poised to get underway on page one of Dunc Breaks the Record. They are about to leap from a hill and attempt to hang glide farther than any two boys their age ever have. The attempt starts better than Dunc envisioned, the glider rising thousands of feet and wind currents swiftly carrying them far from where they took flight, but Amos sees a problem: they're drifting over the Davis Wilderness Area, a patch of raw wilderness extending ninety miles southwest. If the glider loses altitude and descends into these woods, the boys might not be found alive.

Dunc performs some fancy flying just to survive landing in the woods, and he and Amos barely avoid drowning in the river they crash into. Amos fears wild animals will prey on them, but the immediate threat is thick swarms of mosquitos that form a constant barrage as darkness falls. At least Dunc and Amos can figure things out as a team...until Dunc goes missing without a trace. Someone else is in this wilderness, and doesn't seem to intend any good for the two lost boys. Why else would they kidnap Dunc? Can Amos and his best friend for life find their way to civilization before a disaster too big to overcome—either natural or the work of man—brings their escapade in the Davis Wilderness Area to an ugly end?

Through six books, Dunc Breaks the Record is the best of the Culpepper Adventures since Culpepper's Cannon. The wilderness writing, which is Gary Paulsen's forte, can be exciting, and fewer scenes than usual are too zany to be believed. The references to the book Hatchet are amusing, a trick that Gary Paulsen recycled eighteen years later in Masters of Disaster. Dunc Breaks the Record has a few narrative inconsistencies, but it's a fairly entertaining, short read I might consider rating one and a half stars. If you liked the first five Culpepper Adventures, this should be right up your alley.

[Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dunc, the optimist, and his cautious friend, Amos, go hang gliding, but the attempt goes awry!

A short, funny read.

Clean

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a pretty good book. dunk and Amos try to break the hang gliding record for 2 kids. They had something wrong with the hang glider and they fell in to the woods. and then they get kidnaped by this weird guy that doesnt talk. Then Amos plays him in checkers for all his thing and wins. Then the play won more time and he wins one of these gold bar then he lets them go and they get home but they droped the gold bar. I think you should read this book because it went by so fast and quickly and it was very good.

[Hillvan]

670L