Two years ago, Sam ran
away from New York City to live in the Catskill Mountains. Now his
younger sister Alice has joined him and is quietly living in a tree
house of her own nearby. Their peaceful life is shattered when a
conservation officer confiscates Sam’s falcon, Frightful, and Alice
suddenly vanishes. Sam leaves his home to search for Alice, hoping to
find Frightful, too. But the trail to the far side of the mountain may
lead Sam into great danger.
In my review of the first book in this trilogy (My side of the Mountain) I mentioned that I struggled with the fact that parents would let their 17 year old son run away and live in the wilderness, so when this book started with them then letting their 14 year old daughter do the same, I very nearly just gave up before I had even started. I decided to read on just to see where it was going.
Putting this issue aside it was a lovely little book that will be loved by 10 to 13 year olds. Even adults would like the survival skills that are regularly mentioned although I thought these were taken too far when they built a water mill out of nothing and at the end are contemplating using it to produce electricity. I suppose the point is that even living in the wilderness does not get you away from development of some sort but, really, would a 17 and 14 year old from New York have the know who to do this!!
Even more like Enid Blyton and The Famous Five for a slightly older audience, as the kids foiled a rare bird thieving ring the only difference being instead of ham sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer they eat squirrel and drink tea made out of plant roots.
In summary, a pleasant story which complements the first book rather well and actually makes the first book slightly better. So now on to the third and last book! 4 out of 5. Xx
No comments:
Post a Comment