Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, all I wanted to read were books about adventure. I also had an adventurous childhood, growing up in the Louisiana swamps with a father who actually hunted alligators and took me with him. As I came of age, I longed to tell stories, and, as they say, itā€™s best to write about what you know. To date, Iā€™ve penned six novels, all set in the exotic wetlands of Cajun, Louisiana. I feel missionary about thisā€”that my writing gifts allow me to decode my homeplace in a way that makes it easier for outsiders to see the singular niche it occupies on the American landscape. 


I wrote

Book cover of Swamped!

What is my book about?

Having snagged a job for a swamp tour company, Louisiana homeboy Jack Landry wants to ditch school and guide full-time.ā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Hatchet

Ken Wells Why did I love this book?

What are you made of, really? Who hasnā€™t conjured up a survival scenario in which you are the protagonist? How would you fare?

I loved this book because the author put you on that plane in that horribly inconceivable situation in which you simply know you will likely die. But you donā€™tā€”not immediately, anyway. But then the real struggle begins. This book resonates with me because every difficult, life-changing scenario is utterly plausible, unnerving, and interesting. 

By Gary Paulsen,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Hatchet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

This award-winning contemporary classic is the survival story with which all others are comparedā€”and a page-turning, heart-stopping adventure, recipient of the Newbery Honor. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of Americaā€™s best-loved novels by PBSā€™s The Great American Read.

Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his motherā€™s infidelity, is traveling by single-engine plane to visit his father for the first time since the divorce. When the plane crashes, killing the pilot, the sole survivor is Brian. He is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his motherā€¦


Book cover of The Call of the Wild

Ken Wells Why did I love this book?

I love this book for its fabulous sense of place, nonstop action, and realistic depiction of the rough-and-tumble Yukon during the 1890s Gold Rush.

The protagonist may be a dog but Buck, the good-heard Saint Bernard we meet as affable and innocent puppy, is I truly believe one of the most unforgettable characters in the history of adventure novels. His transition to a feral state is utterly believable as the book unfolds the darkness that lies at the heart of all too many men and the often violent chain of events that causes Buck to seek a new life.

I have read this book three times, and each time, it continues to amaze me. 

By Jack London,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Call of the Wild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Puffin Classics bring together the best-loved stories to a new generation.

In The Call of the Wild life is good for Buck in Santa Clara Valley, where he spends his days eating and sleeping in the golden sunshine. But one day a treacherous act of betrayal leads to his kidnap, and he is forced into a life of toil and danger. Dragged away to be a sledge dog in the harsh and freezing cold Yukon, Buck must fight for his survivial. Can he rise above his enemies and become the master of his realm once again?

Jack London (1876-1916) wasā€¦


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Book cover of The Accidental Heiress

The Accidental Heiress by Mary Kendall,

Margaret Oā€™Keefe, a horse farm owner, is desperate to save her ancestral property, Needham Forest. When she hears a rumor about a hidden treasure on her land, she plunges into a search that uncovers more than goldā€”secrets, betrayal, and danger at every turn.

Caught between her volatile ex-husband, a scandalousā€¦

Book cover of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Ken Wells Why did I love this book?

Twainā€™s classic may be out of favor in certain circles, but it is a big, imaginative, sprawling narrative that slyly deals with the thorny issues of race relations in the antebellum South while being, I believe, one of the greatest and fondest depictions of boyhood ever penned.

I love how Twain captured not just the regional southern vernacular but painted a picture of a world now lost to us. To be clear, Twainā€™s portrayal of Jim, the black protagonist, and his friendship with Huck, a young white boy, is an arch sendup of the racism of the day, for at the end of the day, Jim and Huck are the moral centers of the storyā€”truly, the only gentlemen in the book.

Book cover of Life of Pi

Ken Wells Why did I love this book?

I love this book because it is one of the most stunning leaps of imagination I have ever read. The story is fresh, original, enchanting, and engrossing, crossing both literal seas and a large sea of imagination with surprises at every turn.

Pi, the young Indian boy at the center of the story, is beautifully drawn as he confronts his survival on a raft that he shares under the most unusual of circumstances. The issuesā€”courage, resilience, humility, spiritualityā€”resonate with all of us contemplating the human condition.

By Yann Martel,

Why should I read it?

25 authors picked Life of Pi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutanā€”and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, Richard Parker, for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe hisā€¦


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Book cover of Quick Bright Things

Quick Bright Things by Michael Golding,

This delightful fable about the Golden Age of Broadway unfolds the warm story of Artie, a young rehearsal pianist, Joe, a visionary director, and Carrie, his crackerjack Girl Friday, as they shepherd a production of a musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream towards opening night. 

Drawn from the personalā€¦

Book cover of Watership Down

Ken Wells Why did I love this book?

Iā€™m an animal lover, and a book about really smart, interesting, brave, adventurousā€¦rabbits!...had me hooked from the start.

Whatā€™s also really great is how the authors were able to impart a good deal of real-world knowledge about the habits of rabbits and habitats that rabbits favor while at the same time unspooling a really fine adventure story. 

By Richard Adams,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked Watership Down as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

One of the best-loved children's classics of all time, this is the complete, original story of Watership Down.

Something terrible is about to happen to the warren - Fiver feels sure of it. And Fiver's sixth sense is never wrong, according to his brother Hazel. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them.

And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all .ā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Book cover of Swamped!

What is my book about?

Having snagged a job for a swamp tour company, Louisiana homeboy Jack Landry wants to ditch school and guide full-time. Poised and well-traveled, Olivia FitzGerald loves her New York City prep school and is Harvard-bound.

When Olivia and her philanthropist father jet in for a tour Jack will help guide, these disparate teens are flung together in a plane crash in which they are the only apparent survivors. Jack soon learns his swamp savvy may not guarantee their rescue, but can this rich city girl rise to a challenge where the stakes are life and death? As the teens face down lethal reptiles, a prowling swamp cat, a gun-toting neā€™er-do-well, and weather intent on killing them, my book wraps nonstop adventure into an unlikely love story.

Book cover of Hatchet
Book cover of The Call of the Wild
Book cover of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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