Pfetzer is an outstanding biographical subject because of his personality as well as his record-breaking feat as the youngest person to scale Mount Everest. Quite appropriately, co-writer Galvin marvels at Pfetzer's dreams-to-reality ratio. Even a flicker of inspiration propels Pfetzer toward astounding success with relative ease. More impressively, he fearlessly raises the stakes of already insurmountable challenges, as when he decides to climb the less attempted northern peaks of Everest because they're more treacherous. Yet his confidence never eclipses his vulnerability. In one chapter he conquers Everest with aplomb, in another he frets about school assignments on Julius Caesar and The Old Man and the Sea This Superman/Everyman dichotomy will keep readers riveted; for throughout the detail-rich, briskly paced account, Pfetzer is psychologically challenging, yet always emotionally within reach. (Reviewed November 15, 1998)

Presented in a journal format, the book follows teenage Mark Pfetzer as he develops an interest in mountain climbing, travels to South America and Africa on expeditions, and makes two failed attempts at being the youngest person to scale Mount Everest. Despite a surplus of braggadocio, the book will intrigue readers and contains a wealth of information about mountain climbing.

Gr 7 Up-Readers who enjoyed John Krakauer's Into Thin Air (Villard, 1997) will also be interested in Pfetzer's credible and inspiring climbing story that puts both authors on Everest on that tragic May morning in 1996. In 1992, Pfetzer, then 12, was dreaming of mountains before he'd ever seen one. Serendipity provided him with mentors at critical junctures who propelled him from a Rhode Island climbing gym to high-altitude expeditions to several continents in less than two years. This quick-reading autobiography is generally well written, marred only by some occasional redundancy, and is enhanced by a section of color photos. Pfetzer enthusiastically describes the hard work, training, and sacrifice related to big climbs and provides insight into both the physical and developmental heights he has scaled. He learned about sponsorship and compromises; about luck and timing; about instinct and rationality; about the difference between being a paying member of a trek and a paid leader of one; about challenge and the optimism that moves one forward. His motives are questioned and his qualifications are doubted. Often, the cocky, invulnerable teenage voice is tempered by the cautious voice of experience. What can he-or any climber-say when faced with the death of comrades? Only that he will be better prepared, better conditioned, smarter, and that he will survive. Pfetzer aptly renders the breathtaking beauty and exhilaration that are his reward. Finally, faced with his father's debilitation from cancer, the young man reconsiders his short-term goals and returns to finish high school, with an eye on future challenges.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA