Boyz Readz Book Reviews   
  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
    • The BFG
    • The Black Pearl
    • Ella Enchanted
    • Every Falling Star
    • Frindle
    • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
    • Grandmaster
    • Gregor the Overlander
    • Half Magic
    • The Martian
    • Nocturnals
    • The One and Only Ivan
    • Pay It Forward
    • Peak
    • Phineas Gage
    • Prisoner B-3087
    • The Quirks: Welcome to Normal
    • Ranger's Apprentice
    • The Red Pyramid
    • Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper
    • Spy X -- The Code
    • There's Treasure Everywhere
    • Upside-Down Magic
    • The Whisperer
    • Wings of Fire
    • The Worst Class Trip Ever
  • Contact
  • Top Lists

Peak

By: Roland Smith
Extreme nature, extreme danger
Kelly: ☻☻☻☻
Boy Reader: ☻☻☻
This story combines a coming-of-age survival story with modern elements like a blended family, a graffiti tagger, and international travel.

Peak is a fourteen year old boy arrested for climbing and tagging NYC skyscrapers. To avoid jail, he's shipped off to China with his absentee/self-absorbed father. Dad schleps Peak along for an Everest summit attempt (with a 'let's not tell your mom about this') hoping to garner publicity and save his business.

The characters are entertaining and distinct and the plot is compelling. Compelling as in, 'you will not be able to put this book down until you find out whether Peak makes it to the summit or not'.

I always get a little nervous when the protagonist is 14 (and the book is shelved as YA). The potentially objectionable bits in this one are (a) the dad swears a few times and (b) the climber's corpses they run into on the mountain are a little intense.

We did this as a bedtime story (WARNING: It reads more like a shot of 5-Hour Energy than a warm glass of milk). Boy Reader was entranced by the action, but equally drawn to the deeper concepts in the story. His favorite line: "The only thing you'll find on the summit of Mount Everest is a divine view. The things that really matter lie far below."

Boyz Readz by Kelly Mroz

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
    • The BFG
    • The Black Pearl
    • Ella Enchanted
    • Every Falling Star
    • Frindle
    • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
    • Grandmaster
    • Gregor the Overlander
    • Half Magic
    • The Martian
    • Nocturnals
    • The One and Only Ivan
    • Pay It Forward
    • Peak
    • Phineas Gage
    • Prisoner B-3087
    • The Quirks: Welcome to Normal
    • Ranger's Apprentice
    • The Red Pyramid
    • Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper
    • Spy X -- The Code
    • There's Treasure Everywhere
    • Upside-Down Magic
    • The Whisperer
    • Wings of Fire
    • The Worst Class Trip Ever
  • Contact
  • Top Lists