John Foley

FOLEY, John. A Mighty Wall. 240p. Flux. 2009. pap. $9.95. ISBN 978-0-7387-1448-6. LC number unavailable.

Gr 9 Up–Jordan, a high school junior in Everett, WA, is the best young climber at the local gym where he works, and where he meets his first serious girlfriend. Pete, Jordo’s boss, lives for today, and his obscenity-laced speech is matched by Jordo and his friends’ off-color banter. Jordo is counting the days till graduation when he has a vague plan to become a second-story man, breaking into homes to finance his adventures. In the meantime, though, he’s stuck being one of the smaller boys in school, and he relies on his football star buddies AJ and Casey to protect him from the school bully. AJ is popular with everyone and often climbs with Jordo, but he is not careful enough, a shortcoming that causes a tragedy. If there’s a weakness in this bildungsroman, it might be that the main character’s life is too good to be true as, within a short time, he experiences his first kiss, first sex, first too-drunk-to-care, and first summiting of Mount Rainier. Only his lack of money causes problems. But the author maintains a quick pace, the descriptions of climbing are good, and the portrayal of high school life with a strong outside interest is enhanced by detailed descriptions of specific locales, crags, and routes. Foley’s focus on a non-ball sport and the protagonist’s relatively carefree sexual relationship bring to mind Terry Davis’s Vision Quest (Laurel Leaf, 1991). In the end, the plot comes down, not to winning, but to death and its aftermath. Teens will likely find this book sobering and thought provoking.–Joel Shoemaker, South East Junior High School, Iowa City, IA