Winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2017 Winner of the London Book Fair Children's Travel Book of the Year Longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 'I loved The Explorer' Jacqueline Wilson 'Rundell is now unarguably in the FIRST RANK' Philip Pullman From his seat in the tiny aeroplane, Fred watches as the mysteries of the Amazon jungle pass by below him. He has always dreamed of becoming an explorer, of making history and of reading his name amongst the lists of great discoveries. If only he could land and look about him. As the plane crashes into the canopy, Fred is suddenly left without a choice. He and the three other children may be alive, but the jungle is a vast, untamed place. With no hope of rescue, the chance of getting home feels impossibly small. Except, it seems, someone has been there before them .

Fred awoke to find that a snake was watching him and that there was an aeroplane in the trees. It was on fire. Being on fire was a quality it shared with much of the surrounding jungle.

After crashing hundreds of miles from civilisation in the Amazon rainforest, Fred, Con, Lila and Max are utterly alone and in grave danger. They have no food, no water and no chance of being rescued. But they are alive and they have hope. As they negotiate the wild jungle they begin to find signs that something - someone - has been there before them. Could there possibly be a way out after all?

Rundell conjures up a world of natural beauty - pre-internet - where survival depends on cooperation. Her vivid locations are almost characters in themselves . Terrific