Danger on Panther Peak

by Bill Wallace

Stay off Panther Peak.

When Tom and his family move to his grandfather's ranch, Grandpa warns Tom to stay away from Panther Peak, even though there hasn't been a panther in the area for decades. But when Tom sees a large, black creature in the mountains near their ranch, and something starts killing off their livestock, he has to wonder -- could Grandpa's tales about panthers be true?

One winter morning Tom sees a dark shape move silently through the fog, spooking the animals in the barn. Later that day Tom and his grandfather are home alone when a blizzard hits and Grandpa is injured in an accident. With the phone lines dead, Tom must take his horse and ride for help -- by himself -- through the panther's territory. Can he reach safety in time to save his grandfather before the panther strikes again?

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Mystery, Animals, Fiction, Adventure

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Bill Wallace was an American teacher and later an author of children's books. He started writing to quiet down his fourth grade students, who loved his stories and encouraged him to make “real” books.

Bill Wallace grew up in Oklahoma. Along with riding their horses, he and his friends enjoyed campouts and fishing trips. Toasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories to scare one another, and catching fish was always fun.

Bill Wallace has won numerous children's state awards and been awarded the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Literature from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Bill Wallace died from Lung cancer on January 30, 2012.

Former elementary school teacher; West Elementary School, Chickasha, OK, principal, since 1977, and physical education teacher. Speaker at schools and universities in various states, including State University of New York and University of South Florida.

AWARDS:

Bluebonnet Award from Texas Association of School Librarians and Children's Round Table and Sequoyah Children's Book Award from Oklahoma State Department of Education, both 1983, Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Nebraska Golden Sowers Award from Nebraska Library Association, 1985, all for A Dog Called Kitty; Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Pine Tree Book Award, 1985, both for Trapped in Death Cave.

Reviews

[Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
Meh. Had I read this as a child, I'm sure I'd have liked it much better.

[Jamesf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom is a boy who lives with his parents, sister, and grandfather on a farm in southwestern Oklahoma. He is bored with country life in the beginning due to just moving from a city but his grandpa tells him of the nearby mountains and all there is to explore. Tom finds a friend named Justin who lives through the pass. Tom's grandpa warns him of Panther Peak and tells him to stay away from that area. Tom and Justin think the stories of panthers are not true and begin exploring in that area. One day while swimming Tom comes face to face with the panther and is frightened, but is not sure of what it was because he had never seen a panther before. During the winter neighbors and Tom's family begin losing livestock to the panther and the men go hunting it but couldn’t do it. One evening when Tom's sister is sick and is taken to the hospital the panther shows up while Tom and his grandpa are milking the cows. The panther runs away but grandpa falls and breaks his hip and Tom must drag him to the house all the while a terrible snow storm is blowing through. Then Tom must ride to Justin's house to get help. The panther finds him and Justin is able to shoot the panther just before it attacks him. His father finds him passed out with the panther on top of him dead.
DANGER ON PANTHER PEAK is a really good book I would think it would be good book for middle school kids.

[Olivia Plasencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know it may seem odd for an adult to read a children's book, but Bill Wallace is a hero of mine. He was my favorite writer as a child, and I was blessed that he actually came to my school when I was in the fifth grade and signed one of my books in his standard green pen. Seeing one of his books that I had never read or even heard was awesome so yes, I got it and read it in one sitting!

A wonderful story richly told but not overdone, Wallace has an amazing ability to talk to kids but never down to them. The story of young Tom having to move to his grandfather's farm is for reasons not touched on a lot in kids' books. Death. His grandmother passed away so his family moved in to help his grandpa take care of the farm. Tom is a city kid not used to the country but thankfully he makes a friend that shows him country life is pretty great. However, with the country comes danger and places that are off limits for a reason. Panther Peak is a good reason. As a horse gal part this story even made me shudder as an adult!

If you are not sure what to give your grade schoolers what to read these days, because there are some pretty crappy children writers now adays, Bill Wallace is the gold standard. However, this book may be more appealing to boys.

[Haley Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book scared the ever living shit out of me. I have rarely been as terrified reading as I was reading this. I once saw a mountain lion out in the country where I lived growing up and it screamed and this book came immediately flooding back to me because it was exactly as it was described so I knew exactly what was happening.

I'm convinced this would be equally terrifying to a grown adult. But the terror of this book is just about all I remember about it.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was younger. Idk why but it was the best thing since sliced bread. I kinda want to reread it now that I'm older but also I don't because I don't want to spoil the memory. I don't own the book anymore because I had loaned it and a page had been ripped out so I threw the book away.

[Eric Bingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because my son read it and enjoyed it and I wanted something to talk with him about. Having said that, I really enjoyed the story. It was very well-written and I could totally picture these two boys roaming around in the mountains and exploring their surroundings. A quick, fun, read that provided some fun discussion for us.

[James Bullinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book sometime between 2nd and 4th grade, but it was called Shadow on the Snow. I reread it now as Danger on Panther Peak to see if it was the book I loved. It was. And what a delight. What’s not to love? Danger, panthers, peaks, shadows, snow. Great stuff. A few questions came to me during this read that I didn’t remember, but still delightful.

[Luke Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t really remember much about this but we had to read it in fifth grade and I thought the part where they’re swimming and the panther steals their clothes and then they have to like go to school and their teacher catches them naked is funny and so is the part where grandpa gets kicked by a cow

[✨Catherine✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

God, I remember reading this in 3rd grade and to this day Im still scared of black panthers......

[Tre Williams]

This is a great book about a boy named tom who makes a friend on the top of the mountain. It has a lot of thrillers through out the story.

[Ginny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blast from the past book right here! I loved this as a kid, but as an adult not so much lol

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me look at books differently. I loved this book and helped me find the type of books I like. It was amazing. It was an adventure and never boring.

[isabella tickner · Rating 2 out of 5]

great ward entertainment 💪

[Jonathan Pointer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a young boy. I remember quite liking this author.

[Tj Stables · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my son, it was a good adventure book for kids. Has an old school feel to it.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it for students that I was teaching and helping with reading. We all loved it and thought it was interesting.

[Kurt Schnaubelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book Danger on Panther Peak by Bill Wallace. This is a realistic fiction book because there are made up settings, people, and places. But these things could be real. When there is something between you and your livestock, what do you do?


This question was answered by an eleven year old boy whose name is Tom. Tom is bored out of his mind at his grandfather's farm. When he hikes up to Skeeter Ridge, he finds a friend. His friend’s name is Justin. Justin has been living on a farm his whole life. Because of this, Justin shows Tom everything he knows about the land and what to do. When Justin shows Tom a swimming hole, Tom sees what he thinks is a panther. The panther eats lots of livestock of many farmers. The panther comes to Tom's house and eats their cow and its calf. After this, many farmers try to hunt it down, but they become unsuccessful. Tom’s grandfather gets injured, and Tom needs to ride to safety. Will he make it in time?


An external conflict that I had was character vs character. I say this because When Tom climbs up Skeeter Ridge to explore he finds a boy named Justin. They are very rude to each other, they start to disagree. After they do that for 15 minutes, they start fighting. Although they were fighting for no reason, they are creating conflict which is character vs character. I also had internal conflict in my book, character vs self. Such as when Tom's cow and its calf is attacked. Tom believes that it is his fault, so he gets stressed out.


Once he gets home from the site, he thinks about it, and he realizes that if he would have kept the door shut, they would have never gotten out. This was a good book. I say this because it was filled with detail and summary so that you don't get lost. The reason that I gave it four stars instead of five is because it doesn't say how they get to the farm.


I believe that this book would be more beneficial to readers in 5th through 7th grade. I say this because this book is for a person who wants a quick straightforward read.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good book. I love it. I have read it 4 times. My favorite part is when Tom goes to get Justin to help his grandpa because he broke his hip, because he grabbed the shotgun. He went out on the ride with his horse ginger. I wont say why its my favorite part because it will ruin the story. READ the book to find out for yourself!

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here are the main parts of this book. Tom's Grandpa gets wounded in a blizzard when a cow kicks him in the hip. Tom must ride to his friend's house to get help, through a killer panther's territory. Right in the middle of the territory his horse has to have her foal right then and there. What will happen? Will Tom get help? Will he die? Read this book to find out!

[Lani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember that this one was a bit suspenseful, though I haven't read it for years, so I don't remember much about it. One of Wallace's 'set in the countryside' YA books of a young teenager facing adversity with his faithful animal by his side.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fabulously intense book! Again, I love a good mystery!

[Karyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago but I remember it being pretty good for younger kids.

[Logan Black]

This book is AWSOME!! I did it for a Oral Book report.

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read this book to my 8 and 9 year old daughters. My 9 year old loves Bill Wallace books. Full of suspense, each night they didn't want to stop. I enjoyed it more than I thought also.

[Clickety · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, four stars is from memory. I'm gonna hafta go back and re-read this to see how it stacks up against Deathwatch.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this Book! It is a great read aloud for teachers.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book once, loved it so much I read it again. Amazing book.

[tony364 · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty cool

[Teresa Stoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful read aloud! Plenty of drama. Nice to have an elementary book with a male hero. Read it!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for Amber's book club. Both boys and girls in my group enjoyed reading this book.