School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Lily's father is pronounced missing after he went climbing Denali, the highest mountain in North America. Her father is an expert in mountaineering, so Lily suspects something doesn't add up. She refuses to accept that her father has died. Lily enlists the help of her sister Sophie, and together they set out to rescue their dad. Readers will easily become absorbed in this plot-driven story. The sisters are each tested emotionally and physically. What keeps them sane is the teachings of their father and the memories that they share. There is strong character development, and readers will be inspired by Lily's and Sophie's ambition, perseverance, and self-determination. The chapters are short and the pacing quick but natural. VERDICT This is a heartwarming novel that is filled with adventure and would be a solid addition to middle grade shelves, especially where survival tales circulate well.-Ericka Greer, Ouachita Parish Public Library, Monroe, LA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Moderow's debut, indomitable 12-year-old Lily refuses to believe that her survivalist father has died on his latest climb up Mt. Denali, so she sets off with her teenage sister, Sophie, to recover him. The novel's descriptions of local wildlife, flora, and ever-present mosquitoes cast the vivid Alaskan wilderness as its own character in the story. The two sisters, who have started to drift apart, come together as their journey takes them closer to the last place their father was seen alive, amid dangerous animals and dwindling food supplies. The novel's pacing is as fast as one might expect in a race against time and the elements, and the momentum squares with Lily's impulsiveness. However, confronted with the loss of her father, Lily and other family members don't rest too long in grappling with their grief. Despite the brusque emotional tone, Lily's conflicted relationship with her sister and the natural landscape she loves ("This land is alive-harsh and changing") make this an engrossing portrait of a girl's devotion to her father and how she makes the most of everything he taught her. Ages 10-12. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Refusing to accept that her experienced-mountaineer dad has died climbing Denali, twelve-year-old Lily decides to search for him. In so doing, she endangers both her own life and that of her older sister. The journey is cathartic, suspenseful, and filled with information about the Alaskan wilderness and surviving therein. However, too many unlikely events and an odd thread focusing on candy weaken the story. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Her dad has climbed Denali, North America's highest mountain, six times, so when he's reported as having fallen to his death in a deep crevasse, narrator Lily, 12, knows better than to believe it. Lily talks her sister, Sophie, 18, into a camping trip in Denali National Park but omits the true reason for their journey: rescuing Dad. Guilt-ridden over her fight with Dad before he left, Sophie doesn't share Lily's conviction but likes the suggestion that Dad will hear her apology better there. Mom agrees to their trip reluctantly when reminded that Ranger Collins at the Wonder Lake campground will be there to keep an eye on them. The trip isn't easy. At the crowded Wilderness Access Center, they're told that Wonder has no vacancies until the following night. Lily agonizes over the delayDad's now been lost for four days. At Wonder, the weather is rainy and mosquitoes are biting, but Lily's conviction and drive persuade Sophie to take off, exhausted and sleep-deprived, on the 20-mile trek to the glacier where their father disappeared. Dad's portrayed as a free spirit and savvy woodsman. His remembered teachings and outdoor lore sustain Lily and help the girls ford icy rivers and survive wildlife (porcupine and grizzlies) encounters. An absence of racial markers will likely have readers seeing them as white. If Dad seems less a character than a collection of folksy forest do's and don'ts, the author's practice of recounting terrifying events in a matter-of-fact tone (an Alaskan specialty) renders the sisters' journey more than sufficiently compelling. (Adventure. 10-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
How far would you go to rescue your father? When 12-year old Lily hears that hers, a seasoned mountain climber, has fallen to his death while hiking Denali, North America's highest peak, she refuses to believe it. Convinced that rescue crews gave up too soon and the absence of her father's body must mean he is still alive, she and her 18-year-old sister, Sophie, immediately start off toward the mountain with their own hopes of rescuing their father. Despite their determination, there are life-threatening obstacles at every turn. The girls must ford icy rivers, face grizzlies and porcupines, and contend with their own exhaustion during the 20-mile trek. While city-bound young readers may question the reality of a 12-year-old surviving in such a harsh environment, Moderow's beautifully written imagery of the Alaskan wilderness is enough to take their breath and minds away from the sidewalks and SUVs of everyday life. Lily's determination and strength as well as her touching relationship with her sister give Moderow's first book an additional layer of poignancy and emotion.--Kuss, Rebecca Copyright 2017 Booklist
Excerpts
Chapter 1 Dad left three and a half weeks ago with a mug of coffee, a box of chocolate-glazed donuts, and a backpack with everything he needed to climb Denali. Before he left, he pulled me into a bear hug and said, "See you after I touch my toes to the summit." "You bet," I told him, already eager for his return. As Dad backed out of the driveway, I waved from the porch, wishing more than anything that I could hop into his truck and tag along. Climbing mountains is the surest way to kiss the sky and sleep close to the stars. And Dad always said that from the top of Denali he could taste a little bit of heaven. Dad touched his toes to the summit, all right. His climbing partner, John, told us he did it on a no-breeze, blue-sky day. But something happened on the way down. The phone rang yesterday while I was making Dad's welcome-home brownies. Sophie and I raced each other through the kitchen to answer it, but Mom beat us there. "Hello," she said, her eyes lit up with expectation. Sophie and I stood side by side, watching for Mom's big smile at the sound of Dad's voice. But the smile never came. Just weird silence, and then her hands started shaking--hard. "Are you sure?" she asked, and she took in a really deep breath and held it. She nodded slowly, and when she finally let out her breath, she said, "No, no, no! " Each "no" was louder than the one before. She clicked the phone off and staggered through the back door and onto the porch. She slumped over the railing with her head in her hands. I chased after her. "What is it? What is it?" I asked as my face got hot and my body started shivering even though it was warm and sunny outside. Mom lifted her head from her hands and said, "He's gone." She paced back and forth along the porch before sitting on the edge of the flower box that Dad had built in time for Mother's Day this year. "What do you mean, 'gone'?" Sophie asked, standing in the doorway. "He fell in a crevasse, and they can't find him." "Well, they must not be looking hard enough," I said. It didn't make sense: Dad knew everything about crevasses, and he knew exactly how to rescue himself if he fell inside one. "Was he roped up?" I asked. "No," said Mom, but Dad always roped up on glaciers. Mom continued, this time whispering: "They've tried everything. He's gone ." I shook my head. "No way." Mom stood up from the flower box. Her eyes flashed with a panic I'd never seen before. "I told him not to climb that mountain again," she said. "I had a feeling that something would go wrong." No! Denali was Dad's sacred mountain, and he'd climbed her six times before. Why would he have a problem now? Sophie ran back into the house and didn't bother shutting the door. Her feet pounded up the staircase, almost as loud as the pounding in my head at the thought of Dad trapped anywhere. "Mom, what can we do?" I asked. She looked across the backyard to nowhere in particular and said one horrible word: "Nothing." Then she bowed her head like a wounded bird. "We have to do something," I said. "I'm not giving up on Dad." "Lily, sometimes the mountain wins." "No!" I ran into the house and up the stairs. "Sophie, Sophie!" I called. I found her in Mom and Dad's closet. She was pulling clothes to the floor just the way she taught me how to make a hide-and-seek spot when I was a little girl. She took Dad's blue flannel shirt off its hanger, and his gray woolly socks from the drawer, and his tan Carhartt pants that were folded on the shelf. She kept pulling clothes to the floor until the mound was high. Then she lay down and buried her face in the faded fabrics that smelled of Dad and campfires and adventures. I collapsed too and buried my face in Dad's favorite blue flannel, but here's the thing: I knew better than to give up on Dad. Excerpted from Lily's Mountain by Hannah Moderow All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
