13 year-old Marco learns, “If you save a life, you are responsible for that life.”

“How can that be? I’m only a kid?”

Suddenly, Marco’s world begins to spin. A gypsy, saved by Marco, entrusts him with a precious jade, which leads to events unfolding half-way around the world.
Kidnapping, jewel thieves, Interpol, fortunetellers and a Maharaja add to the excitement as Marco, and his Indian friend, Sanjay, use the Internet to solve crimes.
The remarkable history of the jade is revealed when Sanjay travels to Bhopal, India, scene of a deadly chemical explosion long ago. Life is brightened by the positive spirit of the crippled Bhopal children who are unaware of the good luck as yet to come…
The Boy Who Rode the Tiger is an uplifting tale of courage and grace. It gives hope to all of us.

Reviewed By: Anne-Marie Reynolds
Review Rating: 5 Stars  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers’ Favorite

“The Boy Who Rode the Tiger” by Ginger Heller tells the tale of Marco’s adventures in India. Young teen Marco is back with a new adventure. When he hears an old Chinese proverb, “If you save a life, you are responsible for that life,” he asks himself how? After all, he is still a child. Together with Sanjay, Marco goes on a journey, solving kidnapping cases, jewel heists, and other crimes using the internet. He and Sanjay cross paths with Interpol, with gypsies and orphans, fortune tellers, even a Maharajah on their vivid and exciting adventure. In 1984, a chemical explosion happened in Bhopal, India and Sanjay and Marco, together with the children who suffered crippling injuries from the explosion, learn to find a way forward, to make the most of what life has to offer. 

“The Boy Who Rode the Tiger: Adventures in India” by Ginger Heller is a story of courage. This is a continuation of Marco’s adventures from earlier stories, another tale that shows us there is more to life than greed, selfishness, and suffering. This is a really well-written story, a story that provides hope and, for some, a reason to move onwards and upwards. It is written to suit its pre-teen audience very well although older kids and adults could probably learn something from it too! The story line flows very well, and the main characters are well-rounded, supported by an eclectic cast of other characters. Each one adds something to a story that is descriptive and a real learning curve.

Review: by Deepak Menon
Review Rating: 5 Stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewed by Deepak Menon for Readers’ Favorite

The Boy Who Rode the Tiger: Adventures in India begins with an enchanting prologue, where five little children are playing outside one of the large houses in a city in India. The kindhearted lady of the house, realizing that they are hungry, invites them for lunch. With the food laid out, she notices one little boy hiding shyly behind a tree, because he did not have a spoon! This touched my heart and set the tone for the rest of the book. The scene shifts to a railway platform in a town in the USA. An impoverished young gypsy girl, Mabel Stevo, snatches a purse and runs. A 13-year-old boy, Marco, yanks the purse out of her hands, disorienting Mabel, who falls on the railway tracks while the train rolls in. She is saved in the nick of time by Marco. Marco’s heroic act of saving the girl is splashed across the newspaper. Auntie M says that Marco had been the one who saved Mabel’s life and consequently was responsible for her. The next day, Marcus goes to the police and takes responsibility for the orphan child, Mabel. 

The author then skillfully casts a net across many different places in India and the USA while introducing other protagonists, both evil and good, with unique, enchanting story lines of their own. Little Manu with his Put-Put, Jaz, a vagabond, Roo, whom she thought was a Martian, the tall lady known as ‘the Reader,’ and Sanjay who plays a major role in helping her, are just a few of the many fascinating protagonists in this book. The cover of the book is very charming and is sure to excite the target audience of pre-teens. The plot is unique and the flow of the story is fluid, with a succession of different scenarios swiftly moving along different threads to finally merge into a most memorable finish. There is a continuous flow of suspense throughout the plot with the underlying spirit of goodness garnishing the tale. And the boy really did ride and tame the most challenging ‘Tiger’ of them all.

I read it word by word as always, but now I am recommending it to everyone I know, because the author, Ginger Heller, must certainly be imbued with empathy to be able to write The Boy Who Rode the Tiger: Adventures in India. Ginger Heller has the ability to change scenarios in a moment while introducing story lines that are entirely new, yet keeping the main thread of the story alive, often arousing the finer sentiments of the reader. This is certainly a five-star reading experience, with an originality not often found these days. Highly recommended.

Reviewed By: Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
Review Rating: 5 Stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Boy Who Rode the Tiger: Adventures in India, is an action and adventure novel for children and preteens written by Ginger Heller. Sanjay wondered what sort of animal was hiding in the deep brush — all he could see was its large dark eyes. As he raised his stick to hit it, a young girl came running up and tried to grab his stick. She explained that her little brother was the creature hiding in the bushes, and that the two of them were homeless orphans. Their mother had left them, and when their father died two weeks ago, they overheard their uncle talking with a neighbor about the orphanage. Everyone knew what happened to the kids who were sent there, so Jaz and Little Manu ran away. Sanjay was on his own as well, but he was fourteen years old now and had found a metal cylinder in which to set up a little home for himself. After Sanjay left, the two siblings wandered into a nearby mango grove and began to pick fruits and vegetables for their dinner. Manu sat happily on the ground feasting on a ripe mango as Jaz gathered produce, but when she turned again, he was gone. Where had he gone to? Jaz felt her responsibility for her little brother deeply, and she feared most of all that he would be sold. Could Sanjay help her get her little brother back?

Ginger Heller’s action and adventure novel for children and preteens, The Boy Who Rode the Tiger: Adventures in India, continues the story of Marco Polo Blackberry and the most amazing power of his international network of young pen pals who find solutions to just about every problem that comes to their notice. I was particularly moved by that portion of the story which is set in Bhopal, India and saddened to learn that children continue to be born with significant birth defects as a result of that catastrophic and deadly gas leak in 1984. I loved seeing how Marco, Sanjay and his other pals work together to first get sneakers and then prosthetics for the children of Bhopal. Heller’s story has a grand plot, and her characters show, once again, that great things can be accomplished if you have the imagination, determination and drive to make them happen. The Boy Who Rode the Tiger: Adventures in India is most highly recommended.