One Wrong Step

Jennifer A. Nielsen, acclaimed author of numerous middle school novels set in Europe during World War II—A Night Divided, Lines of Courage, Words on Fire, and more—explores a different setting in the same time period in this fictional story.

On Aug. 21, 1939, British nationals 12-year-old Atlas Wade and his father join an expedition team that hopes to change history by being the first to summit Mount Everest, estimated in 1933 to be 29,003 feet high. Atlas and his father, a cartographer for the British government, have hiked numerous mountains in various areas of the world: Kings Peak in the United States, mountains in Banff National Park in Canada, Mount Cook in New Zealand, and Schneeberg Mountain in Austria.

Each time Atlas hikes, he makes mistakes that could lead to severe injuries or even death. His dad uses these situations to teach Atlas lessons about survival. He tells his son, “Where your eyes go, your feet will follow. … Look up, Atlas.”

But since their hike on Kings Peak three years ago on the day Atlas’s mom died, Atlas is furious with his dad and isn’t interested in learning from his vast knowledge of climbing and survival in harsh settings.

When Atlas and the rest of the expedition team reach Rongbuk Monastery, they stop to rest and eat. Atlas notices a monk watching him and, later, giving a piece of paper to Chodak, their sherpa guide. Later, Chodak relates the monk’s message of concern that Atlas is looking for something, but is failing to find what he desires because he’s looking in the wrong direction, and that, one day, Atlas will have to make a difficult choice between his own life and the lives of his loved ones.

As Atlas and the team ascend the mountain, they meet an American scientist and his daughter, Maddie. Atlas is annoyed at the intrusion, but when he and Maddie are not allowed to join the team past the Advanced Base Camp, the two teens are forced to spend time together. Unbeknownst to them, their relationship will be tested to the core when an avalanche cuts off contact with the rest of the team, and they must make life-altering decisions about how to respond.

One Wrong Step is replete with fast-paced adventures, high-risk scenarios, and mindboggling calamities. Christian parents whose children read this book might want to have a conversation with them about the Buddhist worldview occasionally encountered in this novel and how it contrasts with the hope for today and eternity that Jesus offers to his children.

(Scholastic Press)