Introduction

When 22-year-old aspiring journalist Emma Cohen is forced to flee the comforts of her NYU student life, she maneuvers an internship from her father at his newspaper in Rio de Janeiro. There, Emma is immediately swept into a major news story—and a life-threatening situation—when a famous jungle environmentalist, Milton Silva, is mysteriously murdered.

Emma must now enter the Amazon rainforest with her father to investigate, where she is both awed by the enormity and beauty of the Amazon and appalled by its reckless destruction. Not only will Emma have to brave the primal world of the Amazon, she must fight to survive the kidnappers, villains, corrupt activists, and indigenous tribes that lay in wait along the ever-twisting trail of the murder case. Stretched to the brink, it’s up to Emma, her father, and the dreamy news photographer, Jimmy, to unravel the mystery and live to tell the tale.

Amazon Burning by Victoria Griffith is a spectacular debut Young Adult novel. Griffith's powerful rendering of the Amazon rainforest forms the perfect, wildly exotic backdrop for this extraordinary tale of a young urban woman coming of age in the midst of intense conflict.

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Excerpt

As they turned to go, she spotted a man emerging from a hut at the end of the runway. Emma knew she had seen him before but couldn’t place him. She detected a mutual flicker of recognition in the worker’s eyes. Then, as quickly as an Amazon rainstorm, the man’s identity came to her. It couldn’t be, but it was. Emma’s stomach twisted. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Compare the plight of the Yanomami tribe with the Native American experience in America. What similarities do they share? Differences? Do you think that Victoria depicted the Yanomami accurately and fairly?
2. What environmental issues about the Amazon were you already familiar with before reading the book? Were you surprised by the corruption there? Do you think that the author did justice to these issues?
3. Do you think that the romance between Emma and Jimmy added to the plot or detracted from it?
4. What did you think about the characterization of Emma? Was she annoying, flippant, likable, gutsy? Do you think she grew as a character by the end of the novel?
5. Why do you think that Victoria wrote about the Amazon jungle and the corruption there in a mystery novel? Would a non-fiction book with the same theme have worked? Why or why not?
6. Did you find the descriptions of Brazil and the Amazon realistic and fascinating? What aspects particularly stood out for you?
7. When the real identity of Milton’s killer was revealed, did it surprise you? Do you think that his death was justified?

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