Peak is a Junior Library Guild selection book which means it's supposed to be good. Yep. It was! Peak is a 14-year-old boy who absolutely loves to climb. He is the son of two mountain climbers, though his mother no longer climbs. At the beginning of the book, Peak gets caught climbing a skyscraper in New York City. Through some negotiating, his birth father, a world-famous mountain climber, takes Peak away from NYC for the adventure of a lifetime...an attempt to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest.
Part of what makes this book so interesting is that it's written from Peak's point of view. Because of the agreement with the judge, Peak needs to leave NYC before he's done with the school year. His teacher gives him a writing assignment, and the book is Peak's project.
I only know a little about climbing, but now I feel like I know a lot more. If you actually have climbed before, I'm sure this book will get the adrenaline flowing! There is so much interesting detail. I knew that it was a major feat to climb Mt. Everest, but I wasn't sure why. Now I know. It's rather amazing that anyone makes it alive. (Note: people do die in this book, and corpses are seen.)
Another thing I found interesting was reading about the Sherpas, Chinese soldiers, and people from Tibet and Nepal. I found myself realizing yet another reason why I'm glad I'm an American citizen with the freedoms we have.
Topics: mountain climbing, family, Mt. Everest, Buddhist monks, Sherpas, Tibet, Nepal, Kathmandu, conflict, competition
Genre: realistic fiction
Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5
Amazon reviews
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