Cryptid Hunters
Encyclopedia
Cryptid Hunters is a 2004 novel by Roland Smith
about twins
living with their uncle who fall out of a plane into the Congolese
jungle
. Their uncle comes searching for them, but his enemy Noah Blackwood is in the same jungle, and their uncle must get to them before Blackwood does. Cryptid Hunters was on the 2007-2008 Lone Star Reading List and took 3rd Place in the Missouri
Association of School Librarians' Mark Twain Readers Award. Prior to Smith's 2009 visit to the Talawanda Middle School in Oxford, Ohio
, its students read Cryptid Hunters. Smith gave a lecture on the book to a literature class and signed copies.
The twins were in a boarding school before they go to their uncle's island-Cryptos Island to live with him because their parents were missing in a helicopter crash. Grace does not like to go, but Marty does (he had been fed up by the school.). A Mokélé-mbembé
egg found by Dr Laurel Lee was got by Blackwood when she bring to him for analyzing, but Lee was able to break in to Blackwood's GeneArk lab and steal it back, leaving no time to find her notes.
They decide that since Masalito and the Mokélé-mbembé is mentioned in her field notes, they must go to the Congo and get to Lake Télé before Blackwood does, and discuss that the children will have to go back to boarding school.
Grace looks up Mokélé-mbembé, thinking it is a rare bird, when she finds out it is actually a dinosaur. She tells Marty, leaving out the part that they'll have to go back to school.
Grace later learns that Wolfe sometimes wears a prosthesis, but will not tell her how he lost the leg. Marty wants to go to the Congo with Wolfe, but Grace doesn't.
Marty also finds out that Ted Bronson, who works at QAQ, a lab on the island, hasn't gone outside in over 3 years. The workers eventually get the engine fixed on the plane, and Wolfe and Dr. Lee decide they must go immediately, and the plane is to take them down to the Congo, and take the kids back to Switzerland
.
While on the plane, Grace finds out that Marty had let Bo out of her cage. They go down the chute, and discover than Bo and PD had gone down it. As Grace tries to retrieve Bo, Marty suggests giving Bo a banana
to lure Bo back up. As Grace peels a banana, Bo takes the whole bunch, and goes farther down the chute. Suddenly, the chute automatically opens, and they fall from 18,000 feet in the air towards the ground, and Grace bumps her head and faints in fear.
He grabs everyone, and the parachute deploys. He falls near a crocodile-infested lake, and Grace drifts away into the jungle. He uses his Gizmo to locate Grace, PD, and Bo. Meanwhile, the people on the plane discover that Marty, Grace, Bo, and PD are missing. His worried uncle contacts Marty on the Gizmo, and he explains what happened. His uncle explains, because of his location, that it will take at least a week to get to them.
Meanwhile, Grace wakes up, thinking that it's just a vivid dream and will be over with soon. Later, Marty and Grace meet, and Marty tells her it's not a dream. However, Grace suddenly becomes brave and calmly accepts the revelation that she had encountered her worst fears in real life. They wander across the jungle, while Marty is constantly bitten by bugs and leeches, but Grace only has a few bites. Luther and the others back at the boarding school realize Marty and Grace have not come back.
Marty emails him and explains the situation. Meanwhile, Wolfe and Dr. Laurel Lee are in a Humvee, crossing rivers, going towards Lake Télé
. The twins arrive near the lake. Wolfe has a teleconversation with Marty explaining that he needs to avoid Butch McCall, Blackwood's number one guy, and how to use the molimo to call Masalito, as he always hides out of view.
Meanwhile, Butch McCall's camp is ruined by a Silverback gorilla
, while it bumped into one of his men while relieving himself. The children forget what Wolfe had said about Butch and the molimo. Butch sees the children and spies on them, sending information back to Blackwood. Blackwood tells him to find the girl, and that the Mokélé-mbembé is no longer a priority. He steals the Gizmo while Marty is asleep, and Marty thinks he misplaced it. Eventually, he and Grace remember this place from her dream, and finds a key. They, along with Bo and PD, climb into the treehouse. Worried, and attempting to check on them, Uncle Wolfe sends the Gizmo an email, which is actually received by Butch. He pretends to be Marty and sends back an email. Wolfe later sends them an email, which again is received by Butch. He tells them to lock the doors, never to leave the skyhouse, and pull up the ladder. Meanwhile, Marty goes to retrieve the pack from below, and makes Grace promise not to go outside except maybe for a bath.
When Grace tries to open the door, she slips and is knocked unconscious by the knob. Butch and his men climb up to the treehouse, takes the tag off Grace, and kidnapps her. When Marty comes back, he sees no sign of Grace. When Wolfe checks back on Marty and Grace with the Bo cam, he only sees Marty and thinks Grace must be out of the range of Bo cam.
Marty blows the molimo, and Masalito comes in the treehouse. They don't understand each other, but Marty mentions the molimo and Masalito's name and draws pictures of what has happened to him and Grace. Marty realizes Butch must have kidnapped Grace. As Grace wakes up, Butch tells her half-lies and says that he is there to help her.
They both realize that Grace is actually the daughter of Rose, Blackwood's daughter, and Wolfe, and that Wolfe had handed her to her cousin Marty's parents, the O'Haras. Grace realizes her nightmare was actually a memory, and that in it, Mokele-mbembe
kills Rose and tears off Wolfe's leg
. This is revealed to Dr. Lee by Wolfe while outside trying to sleep. Later, Wolfe realizes that the emails didn't seem right, as Marty had never previously called the Gizmo a "pocket computer", as said in the email.
Marty and Masalito go to find Grace, and Wolfe and Laurel see a note through the Bo cam in the Treehouse. They also find out that Butch's men had been sent to kill Wolfe and Laurel. Soon, Wolfe and Laurel take off their tags and hang them in a tree, to avoid detection by Butch. After Grace gives first-aid to the man mauled by the gorilla
, she drugs the food of Butch and his men. They fall asleep, and Grace escapes. Grace tries to escape but the man didn't fall asleep and wakes the other men and Butch. Butch follows Grace.
Marty attack Butch, and Marty steals his boot and takes the Gizmo, and throws the boot into a crocodile
-infested swamp. Then he catches up to Grace. Later, Marty and Grace go into a tunnel in the trees and see the body of Mokélé-mbembé. Wolfe tells them to set it on fire, so that Blackwood cannot retrieve its DNA. Marty and Grace find the eggs in the nest of Mokélé-mbembé, and take them back to the Skyhouse.
Then Blackwood and Butch (who retrieved his spare boots) arrived at the cleaning right down the treehouse. Marty has gone upstairs, Grace is too tired to do so. So Marty decides to use the elevator which he has found when he was searching for Grace in the Skyhouse. Butch tied Grace up, about put her into Blackwood's helicopter, and want to get Marty and the eggs. Marty slides away after he realizes it. With one egg and throwing a faked egg (which is a ball filled with motor oil), he forced Butch and Blackwood to hand out Grace.
In the meantime, Dr. Lee and Wolfe has arrived at the cleaning. With Blackwood's helicopter, they fly out of the cleaning.
Roland Smith
Roland Smith is an American author of young adult fiction as well as nonfiction books for children.-Early life and education:...
about twins
TWINS
Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral-Atom Spectrometers are a pair of NASA instruments aboard two United States National Reconnaissance Office satellites in Molniya orbits. TWINS was designed to provide stereo images of the Earth's ring current. The first instrument, TWINS-1, was launched aboard USA-184...
living with their uncle who fall out of a plane into the Congolese
Congolese
Congoese may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the Republic of the Congo in Africa, located west of the Congo River* Something of, from, or related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, through which the Congo River flows...
jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
. Their uncle comes searching for them, but his enemy Noah Blackwood is in the same jungle, and their uncle must get to them before Blackwood does. Cryptid Hunters was on the 2007-2008 Lone Star Reading List and took 3rd Place in the Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
Association of School Librarians' Mark Twain Readers Award. Prior to Smith's 2009 visit to the Talawanda Middle School in Oxford, Ohio
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern portion of the state. It lies in Oxford Township, originally called the College Township. The population was 21,943 at the 2000 census. This college town was founded as a home for Miami University. Oxford...
, its students read Cryptid Hunters. Smith gave a lecture on the book to a literature class and signed copies.
Plot
Twins Marty and Grace O'Hara are thirteen years old. Marty is athletic, artistic, a great cook, a troublemaker, and has a photographic memory. Grace is quiet, observant and smart.The twins were in a boarding school before they go to their uncle's island-Cryptos Island to live with him because their parents were missing in a helicopter crash. Grace does not like to go, but Marty does (he had been fed up by the school.). A Mokélé-mbembé
Mokèlé-mbèmbé
Mokèlé-mbèmbé, meaning "one who stops the flow of rivers" in the Lingala language, is the name given to a large water-dwelling cryptid found in legends and folklore of the Congo River basin. It is sometimes described as a living creature and sometimes as a spirit. It could be considered loosely...
egg found by Dr Laurel Lee was got by Blackwood when she bring to him for analyzing, but Lee was able to break in to Blackwood's GeneArk lab and steal it back, leaving no time to find her notes.
They decide that since Masalito and the Mokélé-mbembé is mentioned in her field notes, they must go to the Congo and get to Lake Télé before Blackwood does, and discuss that the children will have to go back to boarding school.
Grace looks up Mokélé-mbembé, thinking it is a rare bird, when she finds out it is actually a dinosaur. She tells Marty, leaving out the part that they'll have to go back to school.
Grace later learns that Wolfe sometimes wears a prosthesis, but will not tell her how he lost the leg. Marty wants to go to the Congo with Wolfe, but Grace doesn't.
Marty also finds out that Ted Bronson, who works at QAQ, a lab on the island, hasn't gone outside in over 3 years. The workers eventually get the engine fixed on the plane, and Wolfe and Dr. Lee decide they must go immediately, and the plane is to take them down to the Congo, and take the kids back to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
While on the plane, Grace finds out that Marty had let Bo out of her cage. They go down the chute, and discover than Bo and PD had gone down it. As Grace tries to retrieve Bo, Marty suggests giving Bo a banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
to lure Bo back up. As Grace peels a banana, Bo takes the whole bunch, and goes farther down the chute. Suddenly, the chute automatically opens, and they fall from 18,000 feet in the air towards the ground, and Grace bumps her head and faints in fear.
He grabs everyone, and the parachute deploys. He falls near a crocodile-infested lake, and Grace drifts away into the jungle. He uses his Gizmo to locate Grace, PD, and Bo. Meanwhile, the people on the plane discover that Marty, Grace, Bo, and PD are missing. His worried uncle contacts Marty on the Gizmo, and he explains what happened. His uncle explains, because of his location, that it will take at least a week to get to them.
Meanwhile, Grace wakes up, thinking that it's just a vivid dream and will be over with soon. Later, Marty and Grace meet, and Marty tells her it's not a dream. However, Grace suddenly becomes brave and calmly accepts the revelation that she had encountered her worst fears in real life. They wander across the jungle, while Marty is constantly bitten by bugs and leeches, but Grace only has a few bites. Luther and the others back at the boarding school realize Marty and Grace have not come back.
Marty emails him and explains the situation. Meanwhile, Wolfe and Dr. Laurel Lee are in a Humvee, crossing rivers, going towards Lake Télé
Lake Tele
Lake Tele is a freshwater lake located in the north-east of the Republic of the Congo. It is located at .Lake Tele has often been mentioned as the home of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé , and is also allegedly the spot where pygmies killed and ate one of the creatures in about 1959...
. The twins arrive near the lake. Wolfe has a teleconversation with Marty explaining that he needs to avoid Butch McCall, Blackwood's number one guy, and how to use the molimo to call Masalito, as he always hides out of view.
Meanwhile, Butch McCall's camp is ruined by a Silverback gorilla
Silverback Gorilla
Silverback Gorilla is the third studio album by rapper Sheek Louch. Its first single is "Good Love", produced by Red Spyda. The video is already out and has been shown on BET's "Rap City" and MTV Jams. The second single is set to be "Keep Pushin. The guest list for the album is Jadakiss, Styles P,...
, while it bumped into one of his men while relieving himself. The children forget what Wolfe had said about Butch and the molimo. Butch sees the children and spies on them, sending information back to Blackwood. Blackwood tells him to find the girl, and that the Mokélé-mbembé is no longer a priority. He steals the Gizmo while Marty is asleep, and Marty thinks he misplaced it. Eventually, he and Grace remember this place from her dream, and finds a key. They, along with Bo and PD, climb into the treehouse. Worried, and attempting to check on them, Uncle Wolfe sends the Gizmo an email, which is actually received by Butch. He pretends to be Marty and sends back an email. Wolfe later sends them an email, which again is received by Butch. He tells them to lock the doors, never to leave the skyhouse, and pull up the ladder. Meanwhile, Marty goes to retrieve the pack from below, and makes Grace promise not to go outside except maybe for a bath.
When Grace tries to open the door, she slips and is knocked unconscious by the knob. Butch and his men climb up to the treehouse, takes the tag off Grace, and kidnapps her. When Marty comes back, he sees no sign of Grace. When Wolfe checks back on Marty and Grace with the Bo cam, he only sees Marty and thinks Grace must be out of the range of Bo cam.
Marty blows the molimo, and Masalito comes in the treehouse. They don't understand each other, but Marty mentions the molimo and Masalito's name and draws pictures of what has happened to him and Grace. Marty realizes Butch must have kidnapped Grace. As Grace wakes up, Butch tells her half-lies and says that he is there to help her.
They both realize that Grace is actually the daughter of Rose, Blackwood's daughter, and Wolfe, and that Wolfe had handed her to her cousin Marty's parents, the O'Haras. Grace realizes her nightmare was actually a memory, and that in it, Mokele-mbembe
Mokèlé-mbèmbé
Mokèlé-mbèmbé, meaning "one who stops the flow of rivers" in the Lingala language, is the name given to a large water-dwelling cryptid found in legends and folklore of the Congo River basin. It is sometimes described as a living creature and sometimes as a spirit. It could be considered loosely...
kills Rose and tears off Wolfe's leg
Human leg
The human leg is the entire lower extremity or limb of the human body, including the foot, thigh and even the hip or gluteal region; however, the precise definition in human anatomy refers only to the section of the lower limb extending from the knee to the ankle.Legs are used for standing,...
. This is revealed to Dr. Lee by Wolfe while outside trying to sleep. Later, Wolfe realizes that the emails didn't seem right, as Marty had never previously called the Gizmo a "pocket computer", as said in the email.
Marty and Masalito go to find Grace, and Wolfe and Laurel see a note through the Bo cam in the Treehouse. They also find out that Butch's men had been sent to kill Wolfe and Laurel. Soon, Wolfe and Laurel take off their tags and hang them in a tree, to avoid detection by Butch. After Grace gives first-aid to the man mauled by the gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
, she drugs the food of Butch and his men. They fall asleep, and Grace escapes. Grace tries to escape but the man didn't fall asleep and wakes the other men and Butch. Butch follows Grace.
Marty attack Butch, and Marty steals his boot and takes the Gizmo, and throws the boot into a crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
-infested swamp. Then he catches up to Grace. Later, Marty and Grace go into a tunnel in the trees and see the body of Mokélé-mbembé. Wolfe tells them to set it on fire, so that Blackwood cannot retrieve its DNA. Marty and Grace find the eggs in the nest of Mokélé-mbembé, and take them back to the Skyhouse.
Then Blackwood and Butch (who retrieved his spare boots) arrived at the cleaning right down the treehouse. Marty has gone upstairs, Grace is too tired to do so. So Marty decides to use the elevator which he has found when he was searching for Grace in the Skyhouse. Butch tied Grace up, about put her into Blackwood's helicopter, and want to get Marty and the eggs. Marty slides away after he realizes it. With one egg and throwing a faked egg (which is a ball filled with motor oil), he forced Butch and Blackwood to hand out Grace.
In the meantime, Dr. Lee and Wolfe has arrived at the cleaning. With Blackwood's helicopter, they fly out of the cleaning.
Reading list
The following states and organizations have placed Cryptid Hunters on their suggested reading list:- Cryptid Hunters makes the 2008 Nene recommended reading list of Hawaii.
- 2007 - 2008 Mark Twain List
- 2007 McDaniel CollegeMcDaniel CollegeMcDaniel College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Westminster, Maryland, located 30 miles northwest of Baltimore. The college also has a satellite campus located in Budapest, Hungary. Until July 2002, it was known as Western Maryland College...
"Black-Eyed Susan Books" Packet - 2006 - 2007 Texas Lone Star List
- 2006 - 2007 Frederick County Public Schools
Awards
- 2009 - 2010 Young Hoosier Book Award
- 2007 - 2008 South Carolina Junior Book Award
- 2007 Colorado Children's Book Award
- 2006 - 2007 Sunshine State Young Readers Award winner
- 2007 Nevada Young Readers Award winner
- 2006 - 2007 Black-eyed Susan Award