About the Book:

The novel Journey to Justice, Book 1 of The Adventures of Spider and Ruby , is a futuristic, suspense-filled novel that takes place in a post-global-warming future in which the Earth has flooded. The surviving population lives on houseboats on the water or in large greenhouses deep in the water. They are all servants to a small group of people (The Chosen) who run the planet from an artificial island and who force them to supply food and services. The Chosen live a life of leisure. Spider, a HouseBoater, and Ruby, his friend, who is an AquaGrower, are on a quest to free Spider’s 12 year old twin brother Luke, who has been arrested and imprisoned on the island for trying to organize an uprising against The Chosen. Along the way, Spider and Ruby face many dangerous obstacles including being held hostage by marauders, escaping from prison, and participating in high-speed chases.

My Thoughts:

Journey to Justice, Book 1 of The Adventures of Spider and Ruby, is drawn from author Tanni Haas’s imagination and set in a post global warming future. In this future, the Earth is flooded leading to a new life order and a new way of living. I was intrigued by the way the author imagined the world and the lives of the people. I also like the fact that this book talks about Global Warming and the impact it has today. It is an important topic and since this book is aimed at Middle Graders, this is a wonderful way to get them to think about global warming.

Initially I was a little lost with the characters and I did not understand who they were and what they were doing. The world building was also not strong enough at the beginning which had me a little confused. However, as the story progresses, more and more of the history of the world is revealed and then everything becomes clearer. After this I really enjoyed reading about Spider and Ruby, how they meet, how they plan Luke’s rescue and the adventure that follows. There are a lot of things that happen to prevent them from reaching their goal but the children persevere on.

I think that children will enjoy reading this book for both the information and the adventure in it. It is fun and fast paced with the kind of action that will draw children in and keep them interested until the very end. The people we meet along the way are quite interesting and there is a lot to learn from reading this book. Overall I enjoyed the book and recommend this for all middle graders and anyone else interested in a quick and fun read!