Depth of Field

by Natasha Deen

Overview

When Josh Biswas found out his girlfriend, Lian, was cheating on him, it didn’t only break his heart, it threatened his GPA.

Lian calls him boring and turns in their joint photography project in as her own, leaving Josh to come up with something alone or risk a failing grade. Determined to prove her wrong, Josh decides to head to the foothills of the Canadian Rockies to capture some daring photos of a family of bears that were recently spotted there. But he wasn’t expecting the bad cell service that makes the maps on his phone useless. Lost and wandering around, Josh stumbles onto something he was never meant to see. Suddenly, a group of men are chasing him through the wilderness. Josh has no fighting abilities and no survival skills. Will he ever make it out?

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459832206
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Series:	Orca Soundings Series
Edition description:	High readability edition
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.31(d)
Lexile:	HL400L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Natasha Deen loves stories: exciting ones, scary ones and, especially, funny ones! As a kid of two countries (Guyana and Canada), she feels extra lucky because she gets a double dose of stories. Natasha is the author of many books including the Lark Ba Detective series in the Orca Echoes line, Depth of Field in the Orca Soundings line and In the Key of Nira Ghani which won the Amy Mathers Book Award and was nominated for the Red Maple, MYRCA and R. Ross Arnett Awards. Natasha lives in Edmonton.

Editorial Reviews

A fast-moving novel, with a few twists and turns that will keep readers wondering what will happen next. It would be suitable for middle years’ students who appreciate a novel that won’t take them very long to dive into and finish.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

2021-11-30
A teen seeks a wild adventure after encountering heartbreak.

Alberta 12th grader Josh’s comfortable relationship with his girlfriend, Lian, comes to an abrupt end when he sees her kissing Noel, a stoner rich kid, violent bully, and all-around entitled manipulator. When Lian blames her cheating on Josh’s being boring, predictable, and uninterested in supporting her love of photography, he decides to prove her wrong. Instead of choosing a safe field of flowers for his school photography project, Josh decides to go off the trail, searching for a wild bear and her cubs. Directionally challenged and unprepared for a rugged hike, Josh heads off into the wilds of the Rockies and encounters something far more dangerous than bears, putting his life in danger. In his behavior and inner monologue, Josh reads as much younger than his years. The interactions he has with Baba and Dad, his fathers, and Mx. Mitchell, his photography teacher, convey positive advice and strong themes of family and empathy, but they are unsubtly presented as life lessons for readers to digest. The dramatic scenes lack tension but are easy to follow and visualize, and the characters’ conversations sound realistic and mostly flow well. Josh has brown skin, and his fathers are South Asian and Black. Noel seems to be White by default; Lian’s name cues Chinese heritage, and Mx. Mitchell uses they/them pronouns.

A wilderness thriller for reluctant readers that doesn’t live up to its intriguing premise. (Thriller. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews