Tom Kelly is absolutely right when he says we don't need impoverished stereotypes being heroes for young readers. But who's to say that adventure books for boys need to be old-fashioned or teach "worryingly outdated attitudes"?

It is important to get books into the hands of young readers and the stories being told should offer elements that go beyond a visceral, heart-thumping yarn - though surely that's a core value in its own right. It's not that there's a problem with adventure books as such, it's just a question of how you get them to reflect something more meaningful.

This was the dilemma I faced in my first book for young adults - The Devil's Breath. I wanted my boy hero to be defined by the school he attended, his parents' influence and his interaction with children of other cultures in different parts of the world. It was also imperative to address the frightening ecological consequences that this young generation are going to inherit.

Max Gordon, my 15-year-old character, does not set out to save the world, nor kill Mr Big, and no one sends him on dangerous missions. But that doesn't mean he isn't going to be challenged at every turn. This self-confident boy finds himself in circumstances which draw him into enormous danger and which make demands on his courage and resourcefulness. From these moments of desperation, fear and loneliness (yes, he's not afraid to shed a tear) he confronts his own vulnerability in the face of physical danger and his depth of feeling for his missing father.

So, here's a 15-year-old, sports-mad kid, thrust into the wilds of Namibia, who befriends a San Bushmen boy, learns to share and understand the values and culture of these oppressed hunter-gatherers and finally uncovers an ecological disaster that would have terrifying consequences.

A modern-day quest for a modern-day hero - with all his uncertainty exposed - giving boys, and their dads, a view into a world where their pulses race, the page turns, and which touches the spirit of adventure that this modern world can so often crush.

Oh, and there's a very efficient girl in the story as well!

~ Danger Zone: The Devil's Breath by David Gilman is published by Puffin in June.