Trudi Trueit’s Explorer Academy – The Dragon’s Blood is a jungle adventure for 8 year olds about a boy carrying a secret he can’t tell a single friend.<\/p>\n
Cruz Coronado is trekking through the steamy jungle of northern Borneo with the rest of the Academy. His body is there. His mind is somewhere else entirely.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago he finally read a page from his late mum’s science logbook. It suggests an accident with her serum changed his DNA before he was born. Every scrape he’s ever had has healed quickly. Now he knows why. And there’s a chance he might live forever.<\/p>\n
He’s promised to keep it quiet, even from his dad. So when he spots a tiger leech on a leaf, he pulls off his glove to see what happens (Sailor slaps his hand away just in time, and she’s not impressed).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile there’s still a cipher to finish. His mum hid the pieces around the world and left clues to find them. The latest one makes no sense at all. Cruz is worried the villains at Nebula will get there first. And there’s a spy on board the ship, Orion, who’s feeding them information. The boy Cruz suspected turns out to be in the clear. So who is it?<\/p>\n
It’s the sixth Explorer Academy book, and it’ll make most sense to a reader who’s been along from the start. What they get here is plenty of what they came for. Emmett’s glasses change colour with his mood. Hubbard the dog needs his walk. And a new adviser arrives who asks everyone to call her Nyomie.<\/p>\n
The real pleasure is how much the book knows about the wild. A proboscis monkey swings for a vine and misses. An insect turns out to be part of the orchid it’s sitting on. A lizard glides past with its skin spread like a parachute, and there are ants that burst themselves open to protect their nest!<\/p>\n
Is any of it too scary? Not really. The baddies get their own short chapters on the phone to their boss, which adds a thrill without anything grisly. And there’s a very funny dinner where Cruz eats a whole spoonful of chilli sauce to beat a boy called Ali.<\/p>\n
If the rainforest is the bit that grabs them, try Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer. Four children come down in a small plane over the Amazon and have to work out how to cope in the jungle on their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trudi Trueit’s Explorer Academy – The Dragon’s Blood is a jungle adventure for 8 year olds about a boy carrying a secret he can’t tell a single friend. Cruz Coronado is trekking through the steamy jungle of northern Borneo with the rest of the Academy. His body is there. His mind is somewhere else entirely. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11985,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":9020,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Katherine Rundell's The Explorer","lr_seo_hook":"Borneo leeches, flying lizards, a spy on board and a secret Cruz must keep.","lr_series_id":506,"lr_series_name":"Explorer Academy","lr_series_position":6,"lr_series_label":""},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[26],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[1000],"class_list":["post-7360","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-adventure-books","age_group-books-for-8-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-trudi-trueit"],"yoast_title":"Explorer Academy – The Dragon’s Blood by Trudi Trueit | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Borneo leeches, flying lizards, a spy on board and a secret Cruz must keep. For ages 8+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n