Doug Grillo is spending three weeks camping in Colorado with his geologist parents and his older brother, Gordon. He and Gordon constantly bait each other and often get into fistfights. Gordon is particularly mean about Doug's ``fear place,'' a narrow ridge above a canyon where Doug once became paralyzed with fear and now refuses to go. When news comes that Doug's Uncle Lloyd has died, Doug's parents go to Boston for the funeral, leaving Doug and Gordon alone in the woods until they return Friday morning. Naturally, Doug and Gordon fight immediately after their parents leave: Doug accuses Gordon—unfairly, he later realizes—of shirking his share of the campground duties. Gordon then ignores his mother's instructions to stay with his brother and goes off to camp by himself. While Gordon is away, Doug gets along fine. He is an expert camper and knows what he needs to do. Doug fully expects Gordon to return before his parents do, but by Friday noon, neither Gordon nor his parents have returned. Doug also realizes that Gordon must have run out of food and water by then. To get to Gordon, Doug must climb past his fear place. Doug finds Gordon with a broken leg, and he must make the perilous return trip with his brother on his back. A heart-stopping and complex story of fear, sibling rivalry, and love from veteran Naylor (Alice In-Between, p. 483, etc.; Boys Against Girls, see above). (Fiction. 8-12)"

Talk about versatile: the writer of the poignant comedies about Alice, which began with The Agony of Alice (1985), turns here to the survival-adventure genre. Set in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains, this is a literal cliffhanger about Doug Brillo, 12, who overcomes his terror of heights to rescue the older brother he hates. Doug and his brother, Gordon, are left alone in their rough mountain camp for a few days when their parents are called away to a family funeral; the seething rivalry between the boys explodes; Gordon takes off alone, and when he doesn't return, Doug has to climb along a narrow cliff edge to find his brother and carry him back. The parents' absence is a bit contrived, but armchair adventurers will go along with it because the wilderness action is so exciting. A cougar stalks Doug and then becomes a kind of companion, always wary, almost comfortable. Doug's terror is visceral. His step-by-step journey across those few terrible feet of precipice makes you hold your breath. Just as compelling is the intensity of rage between the brothers and their hard work to overcome their hostility and get home. (Reviewed December 15, 1994)

Gr 5-8-A three-week trip to the Colorado Rockies is marred when Doug and Gordon's parents must go to Boston for a funeral and leave the boys alone at the campsite. With no one there to referee, their bickering escalates, and Gordon goes off to camp higher up in the mountains by himself. Doug's hours pass slowly until a cougar begins visiting him regularly. After a few days, Gordon has still not returned, so Doug sets out to find him; the cougar follows. Helped by his observations of the cougar, he overcomes his fear of heights, hiking across a narrow ledge with a sheer drop-off, and finds his brother, who has broken his leg. The return trip is harrowing, but they make it. This story is suspenseful enough to keep readers turning the pages. The sibling rivalry is the most believable part of the plot; the dialogue is snappy and portrays the difficult relationship well. The boys' mother's poor relationship with her brother (who has just died) serves as a telling counterpoint to her sons' problems. Not so believable is the idea that parents would leave their adolescent children alone in such a remote area. The rapport between Doug and the cougar also strains credibility. Nevertheless, the conclusion is satisfying-surviving a life-threatening situation does cause the boys to reflect on their situation, and readers know they will return home all the wiser.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC

Antagonism between brothers plays out in a dramatic setting high in the Rocky Mountains when two boys are left to fend for themselves in a remote campsite. Twelve-year-old Doug grapples with an overwhelming fear of heights, is befriended by a cougar, and executes a gripping rescue mission. Skepticism aside, the book is an absorbing read.