Climb or Die

Edward Myers

Hyperion Books for Children. $14.95
(paper $4.95)

What do you do if you are stranded in a blizzard and your parents are badly hurt?

14-year-old Danielle and her younger brother Jake do the only thing they can: go for help. In this case, help is a weather station four thousand feet up Mt. Remington.

They are ill-prepared for the expedition. But Danielle has recently completed a Mountain Mastery course, and Jake's hobby of improvising produces necessary equipment, such as compass and belaying rope, out of common tools.

As Danielle and Jake climb, Edward Myers also explores their sibling rivalry and jealousies. He is a little awkward in the beginning, with their thoughts seeming forced and artificial; but after the accident, with more action to describe, he handles the balance between thoughts and action smoothly.

The book's weakest point is that the Darcy family seems to live in a vacuum. It's as if having decided a few key things, such as mountain mastery and gadget improvisations, Myers did not bother invent any more.

Myers has the humor right, though, from Jake's French waiter serving dog food to their arrival at the weather station saying "Trick or treat."

Climb or Die is Edward Myers' first novel for young adults.

 

This review originally appeared in the February 19, 1995 edition of The Roanoke Times and World-News.

 

This review copyright 1995 by Wendy Morris

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