Darkness Comes Before the Dawn

Auteur

Terry Umphenour is an international educator who teaches math, science, and leadership courses to middle school students in the Concordia International School system. His leadership courses train students to use survival techniques in harsh environments to develop better communication, teamwork, and decision-making skills. He supervises a marine research program that prepares students to be active global citizens by learning to scuba dive and collect data on the health of ocean reefs. Students share that data with Reef Check scientists who monitor the oceans' health. His goal for the Karina adventure series is to excite young adults to the wonders of science and the importance of making responsible decisions with regards to the health of the Earth's biomes and the communities they serve.

Texte du rabat

Fifteen-year-old Karina's life has changed dramatically in the last year. After losing both her parents in an airplane accident, she is now living in a facility known for using adventure education to turn troubled adolescents into responsible adults. As Karina and other students enter Devil's Icebox, a mazelike cave with a bad reputation for taking the lives of early explorers, they hope to experience a day of challenging spelunking. Instead, they soon are summoned by local authorities to rescue other spelunkers trapped inside-before it is too late. As the thrill and excitement of cave exploration transforms into a living nightmare, Karina makes a fateful decision that results in the death of a child. In the aftermath, she seeks escape from the emotional trauma and nightmares that plague her by traveling to Hawaii, where she hopes to heal while studying volcanoes. But when Karina connects with a terminally ill child whose last wish is to see a volcanic eruption, she has no idea her world is about to tumble toward disaster. In this captivating tale, a teenager puts her own life on the line in a perilous race against time-and flowing lava-in a desperate attempt to change a course of tragic events.