Book review: Book 4 of 'Explorer Academy: The Star Dunes' is an unique way to learn while being entertained

Cruz Coronado is a member of an elite school called Explorer Academy. This boarding-type school teaches Cruz and his friends all kinds of cool subjects through real-life experiences. However, while Cruz and his schoolmates travel around the country saving the environment and animals, Cruz is on another, secret, mission. His self-appointed mission to find a missing formula discovered by his deceased (at least, I think she's deceased) scientist mother, is ever on his mind in the fourth installment of Explorer Academy: The Star Dunes.

I was really impressed with just about everything in this book (keep reading and I'll tell you about the one thing that DID bug me) as author Trudi Trueit did a fantastic job melding great story telling with learning. The Star Dunes covers geography, conservation, archeology, biology, technology, and science fiction all into a fantastic experience that I really think kids will enjoy. 

I learned so much about gorillas, pangolins (confession: I'd never even heard of pangolins until I read this book and I actually googled them to see if Trueit had made them up. Nope, they're real!) and cheetahs. This book even has some cool facts about the animals in the index, which I thought was a fabulous addition. 

Reading a novel like this, one that merges so much learning with much adventure, was a new experience for me. And I liked it! I really hope more authors adopt this type of fiction writing because I would totally count reading this book as my kid's science homework.

Also, by merging all this science with a good plot, Trueit has made it even more possible for kids to WANT to find out more about everything they've learned. And instilling a desire to learn more is such a key component to kids actually learning.

Okay, now let's talk about the one thing that bothered me about this book: its lack of strong male mentors. Yes, the main character, Cruz, is male. But all the other strong characters in here are female. Did you get that? ALL OF THE STRONG CHARACTERS, other than Cruz, ARE FEMALE. Does this bother anyone else? I'm all for acknowledging that women can be strong and knowledgeable leaders, but I've noticed a distinct trend in the book and media world of either ignoring, or worse, disparaging men. Thankfully, The Star Dunes doesn't disparage, but it does make it very apparent that all the smart people in Cruz's life are women. All the scientists, the principal, teachers, inventor, etc, are women. Why didn't Trueit make some of them men? I don't know, but it bothered me.

Explorer Academy: The Star Dunes is a clean book with nothing offensive in it. The romance is kept to having a crush and violence is limited to knowing that someone wants to kill Cruz, but keeps failing.

Book breakdown

216  pages
Best for ages: 9-13
Educational factor: medium
Moral content: A distinct lack of strong male supporting characters