A MIGHTY WALL

Jordan, a 17-year-old lover of rock climbing, becomes a pariah at his high school and the target of bullies when he is blamed for the accidental death of A.J., a star football player and Jordan’s friend, in a climbing accident. He runs away to the mountains but is persuaded to return, and, with the help of his mother, girlfriend and another friend on the football team, he finds the support he needs to overcome his guilt, face the hostilities of his schoolmates and finish out his last year of high school. Unfortunately, this story line, the most compelling this clumsy novel has to offer, emerges three-quarters through, when it’s too late to engage. The story seems to have been written with reluctant boy readers in mind, but there are too many digressions into conversations about local history and interactions with minor characters to maintain interest. A glossary would have been helpful for readers unfamiliar with climbing jargon. (Fiction. 13-17)