Ty and his family lives in Florida. They are originally from New York but once Will the dad was drunk and because he murder a man they ran away. One day a man named Hugo Strawbridge came from New York to learn about the Everglades and he also wanted to make documentaries. One day Ty brings Mr.Strwbridge to the secret Rookery. Mr. Strwbridge took his pistol started shooting and shot some birds. Later Mr.Strwbridge lets in some plume hunter to his tent and asks a question. But while asking the question gets shot and killed. Ty makes a canoe and escapes. When he gets home he tells the story to his parents and sister carrie. After they go to Key west and tells the sheriff about the murder that his dad has done. He does not get in jail. In the end Ty and his family are on they're way to New York. ( )

Tyler, Carrie, Mama and Pa all live on Lostman's river in Florida. A man, Mr. Strawbridge, comes from New York and says he came for a guide to take him on Lostman's River. Tyler volunteers to be the guide. The next thing he knows is that he is pushing a canoe with Mr. Strawbridge in it. Tyler and mr. Strawbridge camping out on some small land and some bird hunters arrive. The man thinks they will do no harm but all Tyler sees before his eyes is that the scientist is being killed. Tyler and his family move away by going to Key West and then New York. ( )

This story is about a boy named Tyler and his family. Then one day this strange man called Frank Brewer, came to Lostman's River where Tyler leaves. He first said that he got lost. When Tyler said that Mr.Brewer is here to his dad, Mr.MaCauley thought Mr.Brewer came because of what he did. Mr.MaCauley and his family is hiding near the Lostman's River. Mr.MaCauley broken a law in New York and he had to go to jail but he and his family ran and now is living in Lostman's River. Who do you think Mr.Brewer is and why he is here? ( )

In the book Lostmans river I enjoyed reading the part when the worker man comes to shore and asks his dad for a job and how his dad sticks up for his family very firmly. This reminds me of how my dad would act and that he would stay put. this story has what I like in storys. . . adventure! ( )

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-In 1906, the destruction of the Florida everglades was just beginning, and DeFelice has used this historical setting to give perspective to the troubling ecological situations that are of concern today. Hiding from the New York law for five years in the Florida swamps, Tyler and his parents have survived through strength and love. The respect that they, and the Seminole Indians who live nearby, have for the plants and animals that share their environment contrasts starkly with those who venture into the Everglades for profit. The family is cautious and distrustful of strangers, but when a naturalist who wants to document the flora and fauna appears, they decide to trust him, and the boy is hired out as his guide. The first day out, he is horrified to discover that Mr. Strawbridge plans to kill the birds he finds rather than photograph them, and even more disturbed at his own ability to break a friend's trust and lead the man to a hidden rookery. On the second day, the scientist is coldly murdered by plume hunters, and Tyler must rely on his instincts to survive. The dark and forbidding cover will attract even reluctant readers to this story, but the sense of danger is not sustained, for Tyler is never discovered by the killers, or ever very far from home. The book will appeal more to "green kids" than to those looking for adventure. They'll be pulled in not by tension but by the authentic atmosphere, thick with wild creatures and plants, and the desperate cries of hundreds of orphaned baby birds that will ring in their ears as a reminder of what humans are capable of doing in the name of progress.
Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-7. In 1906, 13-year-old Tyler MacCauley has come to enjoy his simple life in the mosquito-ridden Everglades, especially the beauty and wildness of the egrets, herons, flamingos, ibis, and alligators that make their home there. The family lives close to poverty, having been on the lam ever since his father woke up one day after a drunken stupor next to a corpse in New York City. Rather than face a murder charge, Will McLeod changed his name and fled to a place where no one asks questions. Tyler's Seminole friend teaches him many things about the Everglades and shows him a spectacular rookery, bustling with valuable, multicolored birds. Tyler promises to tell no one. When Hugo M. Strawbridge, an eccentric scientist, later offers Tyler three dollars a day to act as a guide, Tyler feels forced to accept. Little does he anticipate that Strawbridge is just another greedy plume hunter. Strawbridge makes Tyler reveal the secret rookery, pulls out his gun, and starts shooting. The quality of the conflicts in this novel is first-rate--questions of loyalty, honor, trust, value of human life, and environmental concerns focus on the universal struggle between good and evil. What happens to the characters is believable as well as riveting. Once again DeFelice offers an adventure story sure to entertain as well as prod the reader's conscience Deborah Abbott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.