Peak by Roland Smith

From Goodreads,

"The only thing you’ll find on the summit of Mount Everest is a divine view. The things that really matter lie far below. – Peak Marcello

After fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand. But Peak quickly learns that his father's renewed interest in him has strings attached. Big strings. As owner of Peak Expeditions, he wants his son to be the youngest person to reach the Everest summit--and his motives are selfish at best. Even so, for a climbing addict like Peak, tackling Everest is the challenge of a lifetime. But it's also one that could cost him his life.

Roland Smith has created an action-packed adventure about friendship, sacrifice, family, and the drive to take on Everest, despite the incredible risk. The story of Peak’s dangerous ascent—told in his own words—is suspenseful, immediate, and impossible to put down."

Goodreads - Peak

Awards:

• National Book Award
• Booklist Editors' Choice

This book is about a troubled teen named Peak who gets caught scaling a skyscraper.  In a rush to keep him out of juvie his father rushes in and whisks him away on the climbing adventure of a lifetime.  His father quickly tells him his plan to make Peak the youngest person to reach the Everest summit.  This book progresses as Peak meets friends who will carry him to the top and as he finds who he really is.  

I read this book when I was in high school and I really enjoyed it.  I found the book at a thrift store and decided to go ahead and purchase it to reread and possibly put in my classroom.  I love the thrill this book has.  There is so much excitement and adrenaline packed in this book that it makes me feel as if I could climb Mt. Everest.  Peak was a fabulous main character and I loved his transformation.  At the beginning of the book he was troubled and acted very similar to his father in the sense that he did what he wanted when he wanted.  As the book progresses and Peak starts to focus on the summit, he starts to change.  He realizes that family and friends are more important than thinking only about yourself.  His full transformation is realized as he sees the summit in sight.  (I don't want to ruin the ending, so I'll just leave you hanging....)  

While I loved Peak and his transformation, I really disliked the way the secondary characters were written in the book.  They weren't ever important and I never kept their names straight.  I just felt like there wasn't a lot of connection with secondary characters in the book.  I think this could have been done so that the reader only felt focus on Peak.  Peak didn't care much about those around him, and I do think that the lack of connection with secondary characters was done so that the focus stayed on Peak and Peak only.  It just made Peak seem lonely, which is probably what it felt like while climbing Everest.  

I give this book 4 stars.  I recently found out there is a second book titled Edge.  I look forward to reading it and giving a follow up review to see how the two books connect.  I would recommend this to adventurous students probably in middle or high school.