Leepike Ridge

by N.D. Wilson (Goodreads author)

book data

212 ratings, 3.92 average rating, 81 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		29%
4		42%
3		18%
2		8%
1		0%

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published

May 22nd 2007 by Random House Books for Young Readers

binding

Hardcover, 240 pages

isbn

0375838732 (isbn13: 9780375838736)

description

Eleven-year-old Thomas Hammond is in for the ride of his life when he's swept downstream and underground aboard a crumbling raft of Styrofoam. Washing...more

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07/29/07

Elizabeth rated it:

Read in August, 2007

I am a traitor to my sex. I must be. All evidence clearly points in that direction. If 2007 is remembered as anything, for me it will be the year of Boy Books That I Adored While My Female Friends Slowly Shook Their Heads. First I fell head-over-heels gaga for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Girls didn't always get the jokes. Then Atherton #1: The House of Power struck me as particularly fun. Blank stares from my female co-workers. Now I've read "Leepike Ridge" and if I am not physically shoving...more I am a traitor to my sex. I must be. All evidence clearly points in that direction. If 2007 is remembered as anything, for me it will be the year of Boy Books That I Adored While My Female Friends Slowly Shook Their Heads. First I fell head-over-heels gaga for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Girls didn't always get the jokes. Then Atherton #1: The House of Power struck me as particularly fun. Blank stares from my female co-workers. Now I've read "Leepike Ridge" and if I am not physically shoving this book down your throat it is only because I have faith that this THIS book must surely be the exciting boy-centered tale that's going to win over mutual genders. It's got archaeology... and sheer death-defying, nail-biting survival! There's a practical tale of a boy finding a new father figure... and evil villains who will kill any man foolish enough to stand between them and TREASURE! Add in the fact that the writing itself is remarkably good (I used an unprecedented six colored tabs on cool sentences in the first chapter alone), the plot riveting, and the book itself a kind of Hatchet meets Holes and you've got yourself one heckuva debut novel, my friend. Boys, girls, small genderless rocks, EVERYONE should love and appreciate this book. And if I hear anyone so much as yawn in its direction, heads are gonna roll.

Things could be better. Two years ago Thomas Hammond's father died in a plane crash and since that time the boy and his mother have lived quite simply in their weirdo home on top of a rock. Now Elizabeth, Tom's mom, is looking like she might marry the dweeby schoolteacher, Jeffrey, who's been courting her and her son is not pleased with the situation. In a fit of pique Tom finds a bit of styrofoam packing material and proceeds to lazily ride it down the local stream. Then he falls asleep and before he knows it the foam is sucked into a series of underground caverns with Tom just barely clinging to his life. And then, THEN he finds himself stuck in a world where there is no escape, no light, no food, and no comfort. As Tom finds two unlikely allies in his new prison, Elizabeth remains certain that her boy is alive and finds herself facing a crew of men intent upon locating the treasure they're so very certain lies wherever Tom might be.

Let's talk writing. Wilson's slick, you know. The kind of author who can get away with introducing his hero's age by writing something like, "Tom had traveled around the sun eleven times when the delivery truck brought his mother's newest fridge..." That takes guts. Anyone can write, "Tome was eleven" but "Tom had traveled around the sun eleven times"???

Basically what we're dealing with is an adventure novel with a soul. It's easy enough to look at this book with a clear man vs. nature eye, but there are other elements at work here. Being buried underground only to reemerge through your parents' bed, for example. Well that's just rife with the kind of psychoanalytic stuff teachers just go goofy for. I suppose I could work myself up and write a paper on how this book melds myth and action and creates something that's both new and familiar, but I'll leave that to our future scholars, if you don't mind.

It's fun to compare academic adults in kidlit. When E.L. Konigsburg does it, for example, it feels like she'd much rather be talking to the over-21 set anyway. Yet when Wilson does it, it feels just that he isn't talking down to kids but at them as equals. There's a difference. This book is that difference. There's always going to be a debate over whether or not kids are going to read such n' such a book if it's "good". I like to think that "Leepike Ridge" has enough guts and gore and great writing and smart characterizations to attract ALL kinds of readers, no matter who they might be. This one is worth holding onto.(less)

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6 comments

11/10/07

Abby rated it:

Read in November, 2007

For some reason, I thought this book was fantasy before I started reading it. I don't know where I got that idea. It's not fantasy.

Young Tom Hammond was just playing with the giant foam piece from the refrigerator box. He was playing with it outside because he wanted to get away from his mom's new boyfriend. He didn't mean to fall asleep on top of it and float down the creek. And he certainly didn't mean to get sucked underneath the mountain and trapped in an underground cave. But ...more

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04/17/08

Eva rated it:

bookshelves: children

Read in April, 2008

This is a very different sort of adventure story. A 12-year-old boy named Tom, disgruntled at his mother's relationship with a man he doesn't like, heads downriver on a raft (really the foam packing from a refrigerator box) and ends up under a mountain and utterly trapped, along with a corpse, a dog, and - eventually - a man who had been similiarly trapped for over 3 years. There are gritty details - nefarious "treasure-hunters," a plucky mom, a three-legged dog, and plenty of real d...more

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08/18/08

Kate rated it:

I read a review that made comparisons between this book and Louis Sachar's Holes. This kind of comparison always makes me skeptical. "We'll just see about that," I thought. I read it. I saw. And I get it now. This one is worthy of that comparison -- and then some. And this book will definitely appeal to fans of Holes.

Leepike Ridge is a book for every kid (and every grown kid) who played in refrigerator boxes, caught critters in the woods, and floated down creeks on homemade...more

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11/21/07

Carter rated it:

bookshelves: children-s, guy-reads, young-adult

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Carter by: Elizabeth

I heard a couple of quotes of this on Fuse #8's blog and it sounds like a beautiful book. I can't wait to read this.

***update***
I'd stayed up real late last night to finish this one. A complete page-turner for the best of them. Total reminisces of Treasure Island, Hatchet, Robinson Crusoe, and a score of other great "boy-books." I think this one needs to be added to the fray.

I like how Tom never seems to get too down on his situation. Evidence of "...more

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2 comments

09/30/07

Ellen rated it:

bookshelves: childrensbooks

Read in September, 2007

A great read for what otherwise would have been a miserable day in bed with nasty cold. I love adventure survival stories and was often reminded today of stories I enjoyed long ago (Hatchet, Julie of the Wolves, I know there are others...).

To my delight, this one also added the mystery of archaeological treasure. Had I read this before all those archaeology classes in college, I probably would have given it another star. As much as I wanted to for the sake of the story, I just coul...more

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1 comment

09/12/08

Eric rated it:

Read in October, 2008

A smashing adventure story, about a boy who is carried by the river into a network of caves, deep in the mountains near his home. The plot is riveting, and the writing is top-notch: Rich, descriptive, and poetic, but never so artsy-fartsy that it breaks you out of the narrative. Just perfect writing, really. Highly recommended.

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08/20/07

Bill Prosser rated it:

Read in July, 2007

One of my ABSOLUTE favorites of the summer! I loved the adventure, the mystery, the way the "bad guys" try to get their way. This would be a great read aloud due to the cliff hangers. Kids will enjoy the twists in the plot. Just when you think you have it figured out, think again!

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09/16/07

Maria Caplin rated it:

Read in September, 2007

Just finished this amazing book-every time I turned the page I was surprised up until the ending which I never predicted.
Excellent book for thinking, wondering, predicting and just
visualizing what it really would be like to have lived through Tom's experiences.

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1 comment

02/16/09

Heather rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

Everyone who reads this book LOVES it. It is part Huckelberry Finn, part Hatchet, part David Copperfield, and part 'The Parent Trap'. Many teachers and librarians are calling this book one of the best books written this year.

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08/20/07

Sarah rated it:

bookshelves: arcs

Read in February, 2008

60+ pages seems like giving this book a fair shot, but it just didn't grab me. So many people love it, though, that I'll have to try it again later.

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10/02/08

Kelly rated it:

the best boy adventure book I've read in years, hands down.

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01/04/08

babyhippoface rated it:

bookshelves: kids--fiction

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: boys who are reluctant readers and anyone who loves adventure novels

This book made me miss my "If I Don't Get to Sleep Before This Time, I'll Be Cranky Tomorrow" bedtime. 3+ hours over, in fact. That doesn't happen very often.

First off, there's the cover. It couldn't get much more attention-grabbing than that, could it? You're looking at the feet of 11-year-old Tom Hammond, who is sitting atop his chimney, which is atop his house, which is CHAINED atop a mountain ridge. This is where he goes to get away from all the yuck in world, which cu...more

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11/30/07

Jean rated it:

Read in December, 2007

This book starts out with a familiar "my mom is dating a man I don't like" kind of scene. But there is a twist. For example, there is a hint that the house that Tom and his mother live in is really different - it is chained to the top of a rock and experiences frequent power surges that cause appliances to fizzle. But the twist that grabbed me was the writing. The descriptions were beautifully written. The author can really write a good sentence.

Then comes another gr...more

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08/01/07

Teresa rated it:

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: those who like adventure stories

I thought this a fine ride with plenty of thrills and spills. And, wow, what a piece of styrofoam.

I was hooked from the first paragraph with its mix of fairy tale and legend and present day.

"in the history of the world there have been lots of onces and lots of times, and every time has had a once upon it. Most people will tell you that the once upon a time happened in a land far, far away, but it really depends on where you are. The once upon a time may have been jus...more

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01/14/09

Douglas Wilson rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in May, 2007

Nate does great work.

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06/07/09

Laura rated it:

bookshelves: childrensliterature, crime, friendship, grief, identity-formation-bildungsroman, journey, survival

Read in February, 2008

“‘I don’t know where to start,’ Tom said.

‘According to some people, the beginning is a good place.’

Tom puffed his cheeks. The beginning? His day dying. Jeffrey Veatch chasing his mom. Refrigerator deliverymen. Packing foam.”

At eleven years old, Tom already has quite a few stories to tell. Leepike Ridge is just a piece of Tom’s story–Tom’s life after his father’s death. It’s his life with his mother in their home on top of a rock in which he m...more “‘I don’t know where to start,’ Tom said.

‘According to some people, the beginning is a good place.’

Tom puffed his cheeks. The beginning? His day dying. Jeffrey Veatch chasing his mom. Refrigerator deliverymen. Packing foam.”

At eleven years old, Tom already has quite a few stories to tell. Leepike Ridge is just a piece of Tom’s story–Tom’s life after his father’s death. It’s his life with his mother in their home on top of a rock in which he misses his father terribly and loathes his mother’s new boyfriend Jeffrey Veatch. And it’s his struggle to survive and to find the light again when he is pulled underwater metaphorically by the weight of his burdens and also literally by the current.

This struggle for survival begins in earnest when Tom decides to ride the packing foam down the local stream in the middle of the night (he can’t sleep after being informed that his mother is “considering” Jeffrey’s proposal). Tom awakens to being pulled underwater into a series of underground caverns from which there is seemingly no escape. This fact becomes all the more trenchant when Tom meets Reg, a man who has been stuck underground for three years with little light, with negligible diet variation (crawdads, crawdads, and more crawdads), and with no company save for the occasional visit from a partially lame canine named Argus. Reg tells Tom of his underground lair, “The hard part wasn’t finding this place; that was an accident. The hard part is staying alive, wanting to stay alive when you can’t get back out.”

Yet, together Tom and Reg (and Argus the dog) help each other to hope and to search for a way out. Reg tells Tom, “If you die trying, I’ll die alongside you. It would be a nice change of pace from firelight and pasty-looking crawdads.”

Above ground, Tom’s mother Elizabeth refuses to give up hope that Tom’s still alive. In searching for Tom, she discovers that her husband’s death may not have been accidental. Throw in a villainous group of men who pretend to search for Tom but are actually searching for treasure and who will stop at nothing to get their hands on it and a sinister dimension is added to an already gripping mystery-survival story. N.D. Wilson’s first novel for young children is a riveting adventure that cries out to have its pages turned to the very end in order to find out whether Tom will ever again see the light of day.

Fans of adventure-survival stories like those of Gary Paulsen, Will Hobbs, Harry Mazer, and Jean Craighead George (as well as fans of the more classic adventure authors such as Daniel Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and H. Rider Haggard) will likely feel they’ve struck gold in reading Leepike Ridge.

Takeaway quote:

Reg: “After three years down here, I’ve not learned too much. But one thing I do know is that our bellies aren’t big enough for revenge. It turns sour and eats you up. We’ll get out, but we’ll get out for the sun, the moon, and mothers, not for small-souled enemies, though we’ll deal with them when we get there.”(less)

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05/22/09

Robyn rated it:

(review of isbn 0375838740)

bookshelves: adventure, j, survial

Read in May, 2009

11 year old Tom lives with his mother in a house chained to a rock on a mountain side. Who knows who or how long the house has been there. Tom's dad died 3 years ago, and now this new, not so great guy, is trying to wed his mom.

One night Tom sneaks out of the house to pick up some trash that his mother told him to pick up earlier. It was a big piece of foam from the new fridg they just got, and it was floating on the creek next to their house. Yep, he gets on the foam and falls alse...more

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12/14/07

Amy Brown rated it:

bookshelves: 4th-6thgrade, adventurebooks

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: boys, adventure, quirky

Thomas Hammond ends up on an adventure when he gets mad at his mom (who's going to marry his teacher) and decides to travel down the stream on a raft made from styrofoam. Before he knows it he's wrapped up in an adventure involving water, a cave, a dead body, a castaway, and treasure. This quirky adventure book starts slow but would be good to give to boys who like adventure and who like stories like the Series of Unforunate Events and the Philip Aardagh books.

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08/28/07

fairrosa rated it:

bookshelves: 4-6grade, bestbooks, childrensbooks, mystery

Read in August, 2007

A great survival story, a thrilling adventure, an intriguing mystery, and a tall tale. It reminds me of Paulsen's survival stories but seems to have even more layers and with incredibly enjoyable wry humor.

I really wanted this one to be on this year's Notables list -- but alas, there wasn't enough supporting votes for it to make even to the Discussion List. *sigh*

[http://www.fairrosa.info/rj/2007/08/leepike-ridge.html]

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"In the history of the world there have been lots of onces and lots of times, and every time has had a once upon it. Most people will tell you that the once upon a time happened in a land far, far away, but it really depends on where you are. The once upon a time may have been just outside your back door. It may have been beneath your very feet. It might not have been in a land at all but deep in the sea's belly or bobbing around on its beck." More quotes...