Mrs Butler's Blog 18
Number 18 November 2005
A complete surprise this evening! I thought I ought to do a boy book and possibly a factual one so I picked up Everest by Gordon Korman. This book is called Book 1: The Contest, and from the sepia photographs on the front cover I assumed it was an account of early attempts on the mountain. (I had just been cataloguing lots of true adventure/survival/shark stories.) I was wrong.
Everest is about a publicity stunt to put a team of very young climbers on Everest. Dominic Alexis is determined to be selected like his older brother, Chris, who is already rated number two of under-seventeen climbers in the US. There is just a chance for Dominic. If he can find the lucky Summit coupon (just like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory visit!) he could go to the boot camp from which the team will be selected.
Reality TV meets extreme sport! It’s fantastic. They start out with sixteen hopefuls and put them through the Hell of night climbs and pitching tents in snowstorms. Dominic is years younger and a lot smaller than all the others so his chances are slim, but his enthusiasm and natural flair (of course) for climbing ensure that he survives, as other more obvious candidates are eliminated. The cast of characters includes a talented but objectionable kid with a big chip on his shoulder; the nephew of the sponsor who is actually scared of climbing; and a wacky girl who is into extreme sports in an extreme way.
The Contest seem to be the first of an Everest trilogy. Gordon Korman has written another trilogy called Island which is also published by Scholastic (on horrid paper). The adventure story as soap opera. Heartland for boys?
A complete surprise this evening! I thought I ought to do a boy book and possibly a factual one so I picked up Everest by Gordon Korman. This book is called Book 1: The Contest, and from the sepia photographs on the front cover I assumed it was an account of early attempts on the mountain. (I had just been cataloguing lots of true adventure/survival/shark stories.) I was wrong.
Everest is about a publicity stunt to put a team of very young climbers on Everest. Dominic Alexis is determined to be selected like his older brother, Chris, who is already rated number two of under-seventeen climbers in the US. There is just a chance for Dominic. If he can find the lucky Summit coupon (just like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory visit!) he could go to the boot camp from which the team will be selected.
Reality TV meets extreme sport! It’s fantastic. They start out with sixteen hopefuls and put them through the Hell of night climbs and pitching tents in snowstorms. Dominic is years younger and a lot smaller than all the others so his chances are slim, but his enthusiasm and natural flair (of course) for climbing ensure that he survives, as other more obvious candidates are eliminated. The cast of characters includes a talented but objectionable kid with a big chip on his shoulder; the nephew of the sponsor who is actually scared of climbing; and a wacky girl who is into extreme sports in an extreme way.
The Contest seem to be the first of an Everest trilogy. Gordon Korman has written another trilogy called Island which is also published by Scholastic (on horrid paper). The adventure story as soap opera. Heartland for boys?
posted by Extreme Reading Group | 10:00 PM
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