Leepike Ridge- Children's Lit

By N.D. Wilson

Following Dan's lead, I will review the 2011 Sasquatch nominees I read as well. I finished reading "Leepike Ridge" today and felt it was a read that will appeal to those that love adventure books. I have to say that it felt exciting most of the way through as our main character, Tom, ends up washed down a river on the foam packing from a recent refrigerator delivery and is swept under and into a mountain. He barely survives and ends up in a cavern with only a dead body to keep him company. Cozy. Eventually he is joined by Argus, a friendly dog, who thinks of Tom as a buddy and the dead body too (dead body makes for fun pullin'!). Eventually Tom ventures deeper into the mountain, nearly falling to his death riding a plummeting waterfall. Luckily he is caught in the net of Reg, a dude that has been trapped inside the mountain for 3 years, living on trash from the river and the crawdads he breeds.

Once we meet Reg, we discover that there are connections between him and Tom's dead father and the dead man in the previous cave is connected too, plus a cast of not-so-nice treasure hunters that are convinced that an ancient treasure lives within this mountain. Tom's mother has an unfortunate experience with this crew of slimeballs too.

There are other themes, like the prospect of having a step-father, but survival and adventure are the most explored. Reg provides some much needed humor, but it is a sarcastic humor with jokes that sometimes felt like they might not land with kids. There are some other times in the story where I felt that way- like saying that a character at the end "went to a remote part of Mexico, where he immediately drank the water." I get it and so will most grown ups, but I doubt that the vision of this character experiencing Montezuma's revenge will jump to mind for much of the youth of America. :) Too bad, because it is a nice image...

The pace was good and I can see reluctant readers responding to this, though I did find the climax so improbable that I found myself literally thinking "Yeah, right." It was a fun adventure and read easily, with no lulls in the story. Is it great? Nope, but it has it's place for pleasure reading and think it will be an easy sell to our adventure loving students.