Audience: Third grade and above. There are a few references that border on inappropriate for young kids. For example, Peak tells readers that he was conceived under the shadow of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Those moments are few and far between, but they are certainly worth noting. Another possible worry for young children: Peak sees several frozen corpses of climbers as he nears the summit.
Audio book recommendation: Yes! Very well read. My husband and I listened to this on a road trip and now sometimes quote lines from it in the voice of the narrator.
Plot: Peak Marcelo is a teenage rock-climbing junkie....who lives in the middle of the city. When he is caught climbing a skyscraper and bad media coverage threatens to put him in prison, he is forced to flee the city and the public eye. His father, a world-famous climber who hasn't talked to Peak in seven years, offers to take custody of him and take him to China to go to school. However, Peak's father has other plans. He wants to make Peak the youngest person to ever summit mount Everest. Soon Peak is on the mountain, training to survive while trying to reconstruct his view of his family and his life.
What makes it great?
1. The audio book narrator. His different character voices and accents were spot-on and consistent throughout the book.
2. Great characters. Our favorite was Zopa--the ex-climber turned Buddhist monk who acts as Peak's mentor and who always has an ulterior motive. He is the classic Yoda/Mr. Miyagi/Gandalf sort of guy who is impossible not to love.
3. We learned a lot about Everest. Since neither of us has any intention of actually climbing Everest, it was super fun to feel like we were on the mountain with Peak. We learned about H.A.P.E., climbing gear, ABC, and Sherpas.
It was slightly predictable, and we pretty much nailed the ending, but it made our time on the road a lot more fun and I will gladly recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting read.
