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One Wrong Step

By Jennifer A. Nielsen
Level 7
Review:

One Wrong Step is one of the most engaging and moving middle-grade books I have read in a long time! Fourteen-year-old Atlas has always loved climbing mountains with his parents, but after his mother dies, he is left unable to find the peace he once found in the mountains. Three years after her death, Atlas and his father head to Tibet as part of a team attempting to be the first to summit Mount Everest. Atlas is supposed to stay at the base camp, but when things take a turn for the worse, Atlas and his new friends Maddie and Chodak must attempt the impossible. This book beautifully weaves information about mountain climbing, Mount Everest, and WWII together with Atlas’s journey to find healing after the loss of his mother. I couldn’t put this book down and was left feeling inspired.

Note: there are several mentions of a character’s mother having “premonitions” of danger that her child might face, but to me it felt more like warnings from God than fortune-telling.

(Reviewed by Kate Phillips)

Region Tibet, Mount Everest
Period 1930s
Genre Historical Fiction
Digital Format Audiobook, E-book
  • Audiobook
  • E-Book
  • Top Picks
  • 5 Entertainment Value
  • 4 Moral Value
  • 4 Educational Value
  • 5 Literary Value
Rating System

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