ILLS END

The personalities of seven children and a teacher are probed and examined by the author as he describes their endurance rate, courage, thoughts and impulses when faced by a thrashing, relentless storm. The scenes shift abruptly, creating an effective pattern; isolated, slow-thinking Butch struggles alone, ruled by terror; Adrian fights with himself, surrounded by his comrades; Maisie reasons coolly, logically, while Paul acts with adult-like courage. These youths fortunately are not little adults; their responses are at one moment childish and impulsive and in the next instant, adult. Much more high-powered and better written than most of the adventure stories for teen agers.