Review by New York Times Review
"THE HONEST TRUTH," a debut novel by Dan Gemeinhart, and "Wish Girl," by Nikki Loftin, both involve kids trying to escape cancer treatment. Each novel features a main character who gets beaten up by other kids and an intense friendship between a boy and a girl. In both books we see children keeping secrets from adults, running away from home and facing nature with little preparation. What should you do when you see what may be your last chance - a potentially dangerous one - to defy your cancer and live the way you want? In these books the characters take that risk. Yet somehow they're entirely different stories, "The Honest Truth" an adventure yarn about a boy and his dog, "Wish Girl" a quietly poetic story about psychological truths. Gemeinhart's tale opens with 12-year-old Mark at his front door, having decided to run away from home to avoid more chemotherapy. He lives in Washington State and he's on his way to climb Mount Rainier, though he has never climbed a mountain before. He believes this climb may be his last hurrah - he'll die on the mountain. Traveling with him is his small, extremely trusting dog, Beau, whom Mark expects to survive regardless of what happens to him. The only person who knows where Mark has gone is his best friend, a girl named Jessie. The story is told in chapters alternating between Mark's and Jessie's points of view, with the Jessie chapters letting the reader know what is happening on the home front and highlighting Jessie's own internal struggle: Should she reveal where Mark has gone? The Mark chapters brim with action. He runs into trouble early on, when a band of teenagers beat and rob him. But he manages to continue his journey despite inclement weather and news reports about his running away. He sneaks onto a bus, almost drowns in a river, gets a ride from a kind stranger. The love between boy and dog is palpable throughout and helps power the narrative forward. In fact, some of the most heart-thumping moments in this page turner involve Beau and the transformational love Mark feels for his dog. "The Honest Truth" is about nothing less than life and death, and choosing between them when life means a new round of cancer treatments. IN "WISH GIRL," 12-year-old Peter is a quiet boy in a loud family. He has never fit in, at home or at school. His parents have moved to the Texas Hill Country because Peter, who was being bullied in their big-city neighborhood, wrote in his journal about suicide, and his mother read it. But malevolent boys beat him up near his new home, and he worries that they may even hurt his family and Annie, a new friend, the first person who's ever understood him. She has leukemia and is soon to be subjected to medical treatment that may affect her to the point where, she fears, she'll be a shell of herself. She dreams of being an artist but worries that she won't "have enough brain left, probably, to make art." "Wish Girl" dips into a lovely sort of magic realism. Annie and Peter meet in a valley that has its own awareness - it senses good and bad in people, and it lends solace to innocents like these children as they try to escape their troubles. Annie is staying at a summer camp until she has to leave and begin the dreaded treatment - it's what her mother has decided. Peter, meanwhile, feels his family doesn't get what makes him him. The magic valley understands Annie and Peter, and it's where they decide to run away. But even a magic valley, it seems, can't change your life in all the ways you might want. In these books, happiness is elusive. "Life sucks," Mark says, "that's the truth. Here's what I don't get: Why does everyone always try to pretend that it doesn't?" Kids lie to grown-ups in these books; kids run away from their troubles. But they grow up, too. These novels' characters face large truths and have the courage not to flinch. They find that, during rough times, what looks like an escape can actually be the beginning of finding the right path - the path to life. CYNTHIA KADOHATA'S novels include "Kira-Kira," winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal, and "The Thing About Luck," winner of a National Book Award.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [March 15, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Twelve-year-old Mark has been living with cancer since he was five, and, when faced with the news that his cancer has recurred again, he decides to put a long-held fantasy into action. He runs away to climb Mount Rainer with his dog, Beau. Mark is physically weak and nauseous with blinding headaches, yet he manages to begin his climb just as a dangerous snowstorm starts, while his best friend Jessie, the keeper of his secrets, is left behind wondering what is the right thing to do. Debut author Gemeinhart has pulled off an impressive combination of suspenseful adventure thriller and cancer narrative. Chapters alternate between Mark's and Jessie's perspectives in straightforward language. Mark's journey is born from despair, and the novel doesn't shy away from the implication of his dangerous choice or its impact on the family and friends he is leaving behind. Jessie's struggle, meanwhile, is just as compelling. Touching but unsentimental, this is a deeply moving adventure.--Szwarek, Magan Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Gemeinhart debuts with an emotionally hard-hitting survival story about 12-year-old Mark who, facing another bout of the cancer he's been fighting throughout his childhood, runs away with his loyal dog, Beau, to fulfill his dream of climbing Mount Rainer. Armed with cash, camera, notebook, and a pen for jotting down the haikus that come constantly to mind, Mark soon encounters distressing setbacks, culminating in the onset of a dangerous storm. His harrowing adventures are interspersed with brief third-person half-chapters focusing on his best friend Jessie, who knows where he is and the danger he is in, and struggles whether to keep his secret. Jessie's internal battle between her loyalty to Mark and her empathy for his frightened parents is nearly as intense as Mark's trip to the mountain and his attempt to climb it. Both children's reflections on dying ring very true, as do most of the secondary characters Mark meets. The many moments of heart-racing suspense, as well as the underlying gravity, may overwhelm faint-hearted readers; hardier ones will find it a gripping page-turner. Ages 8-12. Agent: Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, D4EO Literary. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Twelve-year-old Mark wants to climb a mountain before his imminent death from cancer, so he runs away to Mt. Rainier with only his faithful dog, Beau, to accompany him. In alternating chapters, Mark's best friend Jessie, at home, narrates her moral dilemma: should she honor his last request or reveal his location to the worried adults who would deny him his wish? As each event befalls Mark along his journey, Beau increasingly proves himself, while Jessie vacillates. Gemeinhart, a first-time author, keeps the pace with short, active chapters leading to a satisfying, if somewhat predictable, ending. Descriptions of place and character are good, the Northwest Washington setting palpable, and Mark's continuous descriptions of headaches and nausea, if a bit repetitive, can be chalked up to realism. The actions of the adult characters along the way are slightly less believable but suspension of disbelief is possible with such a compelling premise and Mark's ringing sense of confidence. Recommended for general purchase and for classroom structured reading. This will be especially interesting to capable but reluctant readers, particularly dog lovers.-Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
When twelve-year-old Mark learns his cancer has returned, he runs away to climb Mount Rainier with his dog, Beau; the trip could be a chance to fulfill a dying wish or it could be a suicide mission. Mark's journey across Washington state unfolds dramatically to a harrowing climax, but the characters' tendency to philosophize can be grating at times. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
With only his faithful dog, Beau, for company, Mark, a boy with recurrent cancer, runs away from home to fulfil his dream of climbing Mount Rainier. Told in alternating first-person voices, Gemeinhart's heart-rending yet suspenseful novel tells the equally gripping stories of the boy who went to the mountain and the girl who stayed behind. In certain respects, the story of Mark's best friend, Jessie, who spends the novel waiting, hoping and worrying, is the more morally complex of the two. Even though he's only 12, Mark makes a personal decision that affects others but in the end is his choice. But Jessie is the keeper of the secret, a task that becomes harder and harder as Mark's parents become increasingly frantic and a dangerous snowstorm approaches. Mark, who is plagued by headaches and nausea, must use every ounce of his courage and smarts to persevere. Along the way, he's helped and hindered by various characters; the most poignant is a biologist who lost his son in Iraq, and the most fabulous is a dog loyal enough to give lessons to Lassie. An overexplanatory conclusion mars the story, though it's still undeniably moving. Writing with care to keep from too-explicit detail, Gemeinhart presents a rousingly riveting two-hanky read. (Fiction. 9-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
