Peak (review)

Climbing is in Peak's blood, but that's not enough to get him out of trouble when he's caught ascending a New York skyscraper for kicks. Though his mother (herself a former mountain climber) and his stepfather do their best to get him out of the ensuing legal predicament, it's his birth father who really comes to the rescue: Joshua Wood swoops in, covers Peak's fine, and takes his son away with him—not to his home in Thailand but to his mountaineering expedition in Tibet. There Peak discovers that his father is not only leading a team up Everest, he's planning that fourteen-year-old Peak himself will make the summit, thus bringing publicity to his father's expedition company by being the youngest climber ever to make it to the top of the world's tallest mountain. The writing is superficial and unpolished, and characterization is largely rudimentary, with Peak's evolution into a self-sacrificing kid who values his family above all never really credibly set up. However, Smith marries dramatic action adventure to some interesting political issues about mountaineering and makes the latter accessible even to casual readers; the book touches on the lack of consideration for the locals, Sherpas, and environment and the money-making pressures and dubious clients of the professional guided expeditions. This might therefore make a lively companion to Mark Pfetzer's factual account of a young Everest climber, Within Reach (BCCB 1/99), and it will likely appeal to those who would enjoy an undemanding read about a very demanding pastime.