40 Fun Facts About Red Kayak

In Red Kayak, which paint-flecked tool does Brady find while raking by the DiAngelos' boathouse?

A drill that had gone missing from Brady's father turns up spattered with red paint, and Brady realizes with a shock that someone may have bored holes in the kayak.

In Red Kayak, what did Brady's mother plant in the yard after her infant daughter died?

A butterfly garden gave her something to tend after the loss, and Mrs. DiAngelo plants one of her own once Brady explains how it helped.

In Red Kayak, where does the judge send J.T. and Digger for at least nine months?

A forestry camp was a lighter outcome than Brady had feared: his lawyer had warned that the two boys could be held in a juvenile facility until they turned 21.

In Red Kayak, which charge do J.T. and Digger face in juvenile court over Ben's death?

Second-degree murder is the charge the judge reads out, and it stuns Brady, who had privately hoped his friends would face manslaughter instead.

In Red Kayak, which figure of speech do Brady and J.T. swap as a joke after studying it at school?

Oxymorons crop up at pivotal moments in the three boys' friendship, and Brady thinks of a final one as his friends wait to hear their sentence.

In Red Kayak, which toys did Brady and little Ben build with on the afternoon Brady babysat him?

LEGO bricks kept the pair busy building, and Brady later packs his own set away when the memory of that afternoon hurts too much.

In Red Kayak, what does a grieving Brady do with the day's catch while out crabbing with his father?

Throws it overboard: deciding the crabs deserve another chance at life, Brady tosses them back until his father catches him, too late to save more than a couple of bushels.

In Red Kayak, what kind of animal is Tiny Tim, the pet of Ben's that Brady agrees to look after?

A hamster who shares his name with the frail boy in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim keeps Brady connected to Ben after Mrs. DiAngelo asks him to take the pet in.

Red Kayak is set among crabbing families on the Eastern Shore of which U.S. state?

Maryland supplies the creeks, watermen and class tensions of the story, and its new limits on crabbing push the local watermen toward a protest.

In Red Kayak, what is the job of Brady's older cousin Carl, who drives the three boys to school?

Paramedic Carl gives the boys lifts in his ambulance, and he is the relative Brady's mother calls when her son cannot get past Ben's death.

Which author, first known for the picture book Chadwick the Crab, wrote Red Kayak?

Priscilla Cummings saw her crab story rejected more than a dozen times before a small press took it in 1986, and Red Kayak followed in 2004.

In Red Kayak, on which waterway do Brady and his friends watch a kayak head out in bad weather?

The Corsica River hides strong currents beneath a calm surface, and Brady spends months afterwards brooding on its banks about what happened.

In Red Kayak, which crossroads near Brady's school has the post office, the video store and the 7-Eleven?

Bailey's Wharf is only a crossroads in Brady's telling, not a town, and even its gas station sells bait.

In Red Kayak, what is the name of Brady's dog, who jumps into his boat for the search?

Tilly leaps aboard uninvited, and Brady only reluctantly lets her stay as he sets off to check the creeks that branch off the main channel.

In Red Kayak, what is Brady's father's workboat called, in honor of his late daughter?

Miss Amanda is faster than Brady's own skiff, and watching it pull ahead during the search sends his mind back to the baby sister the family lost.

In Red Kayak, what is Brady's full first name, which he signs on his written statement to police?

Braden Duvall Parks is the name he signs for the police, wishing as he writes that he could somehow separate himself from it.

In Red Kayak, which illness does Carl say killed Ben after Brady had revived him on the water?

Pneumonia set in because Ben had inhaled water, Carl explains, and he repeats that Brady was not to blame for the death.

In Red Kayak, what does Brady wrap around Ben to keep him warm, an item Carl later returns?

His coat comes back when Carl visits to talk, urging Brady to share what he feels instead of carrying Ben's death alone.

In Red Kayak, the DiAngelos' new mansion replaced a farm once owned by which relative of Digger's?

His grandfather sold the land and the buyers tore the old farm down, which is why Digger seethes whenever the wealthy newcomers come up.

In Red Kayak, which serious illness afflicts J.T.'s father, the man who runs the family farm?

Kidney disease leaves him so unwell that J.T. feels pressure to take over, and J.T. is told he is too young to donate an organ himself.

In Red Kayak, what does J.T.'s family raise on the farm he is expected to take over one day?

Chickens are the family's living, and the third novel in the series, about J.T.'s return home, is titled Cheating for the Chicken Man.

In the Red Kayak series, which sister of J.T. becomes the main character of the third novel?

Kate is thirteen when her brother comes home from nearly a year in juvenile detention to bullying, and she has to decide how far she will go to protect him.

Which companion novel to Red Kayak follows Digger after his escape from juvenile detention?

The Journey Back, published in 2012, puts a fourteen-year-old Digger on the run until his injuries force him to hide at a riverside campground.

In Red Kayak, what first name does Mrs. DiAngelo go by, the neighbor who pays Brady to do yard work?

Gina DiAngelo, called Virginia in the newspaper report of the rescue, is the friendlier half of the couple, while her husband Marcellus is curt and used to giving orders.

In Red Kayak, what news does Mrs. DiAngelo confirm to Brady before leaving town to see her husband?

She is pregnant, and by the end of the novel the DiAngelos have moved away and are expecting the new baby.

In Red Kayak, what do J.T. and Digger do on the day Brady expects to testify against them?

They plead guilty, sparing Brady the witness stand, though Digger had insisted he would never confess to his part in the sinking.

In Red Kayak, how does Brady's father respond to the watermen's protest against new crabbing limits?

He refuses to join because he believes overfishing the bay would be wrong, and his stand against his own friends pushes Brady to tell the truth.

In Red Kayak, where did young Brady stay for days at a time with Carl after his baby sister died?

A fire station where Carl was training became a home from home: the crew gave Brady his own locker and sometimes let him ride along with them.

In Red Kayak, in which state does Brady visit his aunt and two cousins, travelling there by train?

Rhode Island gives Brady a break from home, and in his aunt's photo album he finds the first picture of his sister he has ever seen.

The author of Red Kayak spent about ten years in which profession before writing children's books?

Journalism took her to newspapers in four states, and a series on women in prison earned her UPI's Journalist of the Year award for Virginia.

In Red Kayak, to which cousin does Brady finally give Ben's pet as a way of moving on?

Emily, a little girl about the age Brady's sister would have been, receives Tiny Tim at the end of the novel.

In Red Kayak, what does Brady's father call the circling water he thinks trapped the kayak?

A littoral drift, as he describes it, is a circular current cut off from the main flow, which would explain why the boat never washed downstream.

In Red Kayak, what junk do Brady and his father haul up first while trying to hook the kayak?

An old barbecue, a Weber grill his father reckons fell off the old dock, comes up on the first try; the next pull brings the boat itself, and rain washes the slime from three holes in its hull.

In Red Kayak, which holiday picnic does Brady skip by claiming to be sick after his friends confess?

Memorial Day finds him home alone, weighing what going to the police would cost his parents and his two oldest friendships.

In Red Kayak, which drink does Digger mock J.T. for sipping as the boys wait for a ride to school?

Green tea strikes Digger as fancy, and his scorn is an early sign of the resentment he feels toward the wealthy family next door.

In Red Kayak, which film about artificial humans craving longer lives upsets Brady on movie night?

Blade Runner gets to Brady because its replicants are desperate for more time, and the theme drags his thoughts back to Ben.

In Red Kayak, where does Brady's mother work, the parent who collects him from school when Ben dies?

A nursing home employs Dee Parks, a caring but guarded mother who copes with her own loss by avoiding painful reminders of the past.

Which organization put Red Kayak on its Best Books for Young Adults list for 2006?

The American Library Association list ran to 91 titles that year, and the author said a place on it boosts sales and attention for her other books.

Red Kayak won which state book prize, named for the official flower of the state where it is set?

The Black-Eyed Susan Award went to the novel in 2007, the same year it also won Oklahoma's Sequoyah Award, a prize voted on by students.

In Red Kayak, what do the watermen blame for the falling number of crabs in the bay they fish?

Pollution from development is the watermen's culprit, which sets them against the wealthy newcomers, though Brady's father concedes that overfishing is a problem as well.