Smelcer, John. The Trap. NY: Henry Holt, 2006. 170 pages. (Survival Fiction)Johnny was a Native American boy from Alaska that was so attached to his grandfather that he risked his life to save him. Traplines were very important in the wilderness because they catch food for families to eat. Albert Least-Weasel, Johnny’s grandfather, caught animals for his family and brought the food back on a snowmobile. One day Albert told his wife that he was going out to check his traps, and the weather was getting colder by the minute. When Johnny came to see his grandfather, his grandmother told him hadn’t returned. Little did his family know, Albert was hours away from home and had accidentally stuck his foot in a trap. Luckily, his grandson idolized him so much that he had the guts to go out and find his grandfather. While Albert was still alone, the wolves were coming after him and there was nothing he could do about it. Johnny arrived just in time to scare off the wolves, but on the return trip, his grandfather died.
When Albert became stuck in his own trapline, I became scared for him just picturing his situation. If I were him, I wouldn’t want to cut off my leg, but I would try as hard as I could to try to get the trap off. The grandfather only suffered with it on his foot hoping that someone would come out to save him. The grandfather was missing for a total of four days without food and shelter. I would have been very scared and not know what to do because I’ve never experienced it before. Even though I know survival skills, I wouldn’t be able to use them because I’d be anchored to the trapline. This scene had the greatest impact on me because the grandfather dies due to not being able to help himself, and it made me depressed to think his grandson tried to help but didn’t reach him in time.
Reviewed by: Brine66
