From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown

Candace Fleming

Start date: August 1, 2025

Finish date: August 31, 2025

Discussion: Newbery 2026

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Newbery 2026

* August 2025 - Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown
By Kristen · 10 posts · 58 views

last updated Sep 08, 2025 02:00PM

* 2026 Contenders!
By Kristen · 51 posts · 304 views

last updated Sep 07, 2025 06:56PM

What Members Thought

Aug 01, 2025 Richie Partington rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction

Richie’s Picks: DEATH IN THE JUNGLE: MURDER, BETRAYAL, AND THE LOST DREAM OF JONESTOWN by Candace Fleming, Penguin Random House/Anne Schwartz Books, April 2025, 368p., ISBN: 978-0-593-48006-9

“Just say a word and the boys will be right there
With claws at your back to send a chill through the night air
Is it so frightening to have me at your shoulder?
Thunder and lightning couldn't be bolder
I'll write on your tombstone, I thank you for dinner
This game that we animals play is a winner”
– Jethro Tull, ...more

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Sep 04, 2025 vanessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: true-crime, 2025, ya-nonfic, listened-on-audiobook, nonfiction

I’d recommend this to older teens or adults. I’ve tried to read books on Jonestown before and they never stuck with me, but this one did. Fleming is a decorated author in the children’s space, especially in nonfiction writing. This book is yet another triumph by her. It’s propulsive, illuminating, it makes the people feel 3D and lived in (they were real folks with families and lives). It does not shy away from discussing vile events, including adultery, Jones’s pining for people who could not sa ...more

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Aug 23, 2025 Sharon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: a-nonfiction-adult, a-nonfiction-ya, history, religion-cult, 20th-century, crime

Thank you to Anne Schwartz Books, an imprint of Random House Children's, and Netgalley for the digital arc.
I finished "Death in the Jungle" a few days ago, and it deserves every single star that it's earned. It provides a chronological narrative of the life events which resulted in Jim Jones developing Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Because of society's inequalities and injustices, he was able to take advantage of those that believed his rhetoric that everyone was out to get them, and they ...more

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May 30, 2025 Chrissy rated it really liked it

Shelves: starred-review-list-2025, nonfiction, history, social-change

It is difficult to say I liked anything about this book, as it is about an incredible tragedy, but it is very well written. The author focuses on the thoughts and feelings of the members of the People's Temple, humanizing them, and inviting the reader to understand how they reached their end. This makes the very emotional and engaging, but also makes the inevitable end terribly real. I questioned as I read why young people might want or need to read this story, but Fleming also clearly states at ...more

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