Avalanche"I promise it will be something you'll never forget."
Matt, Tony, Julie, Sid, Carter, Leah, and Dylan get exactly that. Five college-aged students and two high schoolers make up the very diverse group that heads into the Arapaho National Forest searching for an abandoned cabin. As the group starts up the mountain, they are packing necessary supplies along with their own personal “baggage”. As you can guess by the title of the book, there is an avalanche. After the avalanche, some of the survivors stay behind while two venture into the wilderness in search of rescue. There are your basic survival problems: predators, glaciers, no cell signals, wounds, freezing weather, and rivers.
Avalanche is a book that will be enjoyed by both boys and girls. It is filled with adventure, action, arguments, nature, and boy-girl problems. I really like how Braun describes the struggles of the characters. She does this by switching the point of view throughout the book. The action is believable, and she does a good job of drawing the reader into the peril the characters face.
I really like how Braun made this book personal. The main character is named after her husband; several of the other characters were named after people she knows. She even includes her alma mater, the University of Minnesota into the story.
For me, there was only one negative with this book. I felt that every possible bad thing that could happen to the group happens. It made it a little unrealistic for me. As I read, I found myself thinking, “Not again.” SPOILER: I mean avalanche, death, bears, mountain lions, freezing rivers, tree wells, cliffs….was a little too much. Middle schoolers will probably not think this, but I feel more advanced readers might it distracting.
Some will need to be aware of the language used in the book. It does contain cursing and occasionally drops the “F-bomb”. I think the language is realistic for the plot. It is high school student and college students talking, and they are in some hairy predicaments.
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