You’ll never guess the ending. You’ll never forget it either. While you read, you might be afraid and slightly nauseous like I was. Or maybe not. You would never give this book to your little ones, but for older ones it is just the thing: Leepike Ridge, by N.D. Wilson.
Tom doesn’t like his mom’s friend Jeffrey, who also happens to be his schoolteacher. He’s upset that she smiles at him like she used to smile at dad, before he was gone. And when Jeffrey wants to marry his mom, Tom is so angry that he cannot sleep, so he sneaks out of his window. In the moonlight, he climbs the stairs down from his house on the high rock, hurries to his beloved stream, floats away on a slab of refrigerator packing foam, and … disappears.
He finds himself far underground, tumbling along with the stream, believing each breath to be his last. But he survives, finds a corpse, a castaway, buried treasure, and, finally, the way home.
Here is adventure, literature, and history, all wrapped in a story so compelling you and your children will not be able to put it down.
The author, N. D. Wilson, is a Christian with a zany sense of humor and a classical education. You can learn more about him here and should be able to find his books in most libraries.
Note: Exodus Books suggests that readers would be between 8 and 13, but I can assure you that none of my children would have enjoyed it at age 8. Or 9 for that matter, and maybe not even a year later. It all depends on how imaginative your kids are.
Disclosure: I borrowed this book from our library and read it twice. As usual I am not compensated for my reviews and my opinions are my own.