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The Adirondack Kids #2
Rescue on Bald Mountain
The adventures of The Adirondack Kids continue in this second volume of the popular new middle reader chapter book series by father and son writing team, Gary & Justin VanRiper. In this story, Justin Robert and Jackie Salsberry are on a special mission. It is Fourth of July weekend in the Adirondacks and time for the annual ping-pong ball drop at Inlet. Their best friend, Nick Barnes, has won the opportunity to release the balls from a seaplane, but there is just one problem. He is afraid of heights. With a single day remaining before the big event, Justin and Jackie decide there is only one way to help Nick overcome his fear. Climb Bald Mountain.
- GenresAdventure
96 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2002
About the author
Justin VanRiper
18 books9 followersJustin VanRiper is an award-winning children's book author. He lives in Camden, NY with his wife, Joanna and their son Levi. He enjoys reading, writing, and the outdoors (especially the Adirondacks).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 2, 2018
1.5
I like how someone included reviews with spoilers. Way to go on whoever thought that was a good idea. One reader mentioned when Nick thought he was falling off a cliff but it was only 2 feet. Might have left that out so it wouldn't spoil the scene for new readers. I knew that scene was going to be ruined. And I usually don't even read those so it made me mad that I did this time.
The title page was autographed by both authors, so that was really cool.
When I saw that one of the authors is named Justin, and one of the characters is named Justin, I thought "Way to self-insert." I don’t think you should use your name in your book.
I know this is the 2nd in the series, but the beginning made no sense. I couldn't understand why you would plunk readers into the middle of a scene where they're already practicing to get Justin over his fears. The scene was the one that a reader spoiled, where Nick thought he was falling but he was only 2 feet up. They were in the middle of it and they had 1 more day to get him over it. The logical thing would have been to start with them finding out Nick got selected and then devising the plan to help him.
It wasn't very enjoyable because it was so juvenile and just not funny. Justin and Nick played knights, with plastic shields and swords. Nick had a watering can with a spout on his head for a helmet and used a stick for a sword. Justin's grand plan to help Nick was to create a story that they were knights saving a princess in distress. It irked me that this Fairytale mindset appeared in here, like girls always need saving and guys save the day by rescuing them.
Justin's parents kept asking if he had his pack and I'm like what the freak is going on? I didn't care what it was about, but it made me keep wondering what was going on. It turned out that he snuck his cat into his backpack so she could go up the mountain. Not funny. It was things like that that were supposed to be funny but they weren't. Justin gave Nick grief about being too chicken to climb the mountain, but it turned out he was afraid of heights. That particular spin didn't make any sense. Why would Justin squawk like a chicken, and make jokes to scare Nick about the plane ride, if he was also afraid of heights? It was stupid.
Justin was sweating and got down on his knees, unable to even look down at the view of the lake. Nick was the one saying it was okay. No. So Jackie, the only girl, had 2 scared boys with her. The girl had to be strong and save the day, while the boys made up babyish pretend games, didn't bring any water after she told them to, and instead brought candy bars, games, and a cat. It was too much to have the smart girl paired with two dumb boys.
Then there was a lady wearing tie-dyed clothes and flip flops and talking a lot and the cat ran away but came back and I'm like why is this in here? I saw attempts at humor but it missed the mark. I wasn't finding any of it funny.
Justin noticed the rock looked like a spine, then fancied it looked like a dragon's spine. He felt the rock and noticed it was bumpy, like the dragon had "goosebumps." Nick said it was afraid of them...They saw a cloud that Nick said looked like popcorn. Jackie noticed a dragon cloud, and Nick said maybe it cooked the popcorn. Like what? The maturity level was so juvenile. The jokes were cringe-worthy.
The cat disappeared for a second time, in case we thought it was so good the first time. I had no patience for it and just wanted to be done. Having the cat get away the first time is quite enough. Then we need a new idea.
They followed what they thought was the sound of Justin's cat, only to find it was a Catbird which sounds like a cat. That was kind of amusing but wasn't used to its full ability. They briefly saw a fox and wondered at its being out in the daytime. Justin thought he heard his cat again, took off after it, only to find a little girl and the tie-dyed woman. They were already late in getting back off the mountain and meeting one of their parents, and I was in no mood for any more shenanigans. It was one dumb thing after another. The lady had a bruised, swelling ankle and Jackie spring into action, indicating that the boys should "secure" the girl. She knew the RICE technique of how to treat it, checked for her pulse and set out elevating the ankle with a splint made from the child carrier (somehow) and had ice in a bag. Idk how old this girl is because the authors haven't deigned to inform readers, but I highly doubted her actions. I know she's taken a first aid class but I don't think a kid could do all this on their own. It was amusing that the guys thought she had literally brought rice and Nick asked if they had to cook it.
The plot just had to be diverted even more so the kid started eating leaves. Nick fed her broken pieces of the animal cookies he brought and she misidentified the remains of one of the cookies, mistook a deer without antlers for a dog. How interesting. "Doggie woof." I couldn't comprehend why I was reading this, why someone would write this.
I like the wilderness motto was included. Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints.
When Justin had to change a dirty diaper I was like you've got to be kidding me. It was one more ridiculous, outlandish occurrence to get their plans sidetracked. They drew sticks and I was grossed out that a boy had to change a little girl's diaper, and Jackie made Nick carry the bag with the dirty diaper. Like wow, just what I expected, for a diaper changing scene to appear.
"I didn't find the main bag, but I did find two diapers in a small plastic bag and the tidy-wipes. They must have spilled out when the carry bag went loose and turned over."
I don't understand why authors go into such extreme detail about things that don't matter. It's clear the author has a kid or knows about kids, what with tidy wipes and carry bags and whatnot, but seriously, we don't care about which bag she found, which bag the diapers were in, how the bag came to be there, what happened to the "main bag" versus the "carry bag." Just wipe the kid's butt and let's move on. Or better yet, don't include butt-wiping scenes in a children's book.
"Didn't you see the trail at all when you looked for that bag?"
Jackie nodded. "Not even a hint of it," she said.
Who didn't catch that? Nodding means yes. So basically, she said yeah, I didn't see it. Come on.
They realized they were lost, Justin looked for the cat again, Jackie realized they should stay put, went back to camp, the little girl somehow got Justin's whistle and wouldn't give it back, kept blowing it and her hair was bouncing as she flapped around. Anyone care that her hair was bouncing? Didn't think so. And how did she even get his whistle? A ranger and the famous hiker Jackie looks up to found them. The little girl's name, Sarah, means princess, so Nick and Justin ended up saving a princess after all. How ridiculous.
I saw the pictures of the boy and I had a dawning realization of disbelief. The series started with a 3rd grade writing assignment. I do believe that explains it. I don't know what anyone would get out of this, but it was all over the place. I expected a cute tale with mishaps and humor, not a conglomeration of things that didn't go together. The summary states that 1 character is afraid of heights and his friends have to help him. Then all of a sudden Justin is afraid of heights and Nick is ok. On the plane ride they noticed Jackie was quiet and not herself, and wondered if she was afraid of heights. Like, what? All 3 characters are afraid of heights; what is happening here? Then Nick stupidly thought they were telling him to pull the lever and release the balls now, when they said to do it when they say the word now. They released in the wrong spot and I thought it was going to be a big deal, like they went in the water and no one could get the balls to turn them in for prizes, but literally nothing was said about it. The scene ended and picked up that night with fireworks and Nick singing badly and I was like who cares? Justin couldn't figure out how the cat had gotten up on the top of the fire tower or how he’d gotten over his fear of heights there…
When I got done with this I couldn't believe what I had read. It was bad, so bad. I didn’t enjoy any of it, the plot, the characters. There was no charm, nothing of substance. The only positive I can say is that there were some informative topics about hiking and safety that kids can learn from, but boy, was this bad. It felt like it was trying to be like other books, popular kid series, but this didn’t have the talent or the humor to keep up with them. The characters felt like a copy of other characters, totally unoriginal. One girl and two guys, the girl is smart and knows everything while the boys need her help. It’s been done so many times. This sounded so cute and I saved it for the 4th of July weekend, thinking it was going to be so cute and funny, but I was extremely let down and for that and the bad writing and plot and everything else, I gave it 1.5. I was excited to read the others based off the titles but I don't think I can read any more of these.
I like how someone included reviews with spoilers. Way to go on whoever thought that was a good idea. One reader mentioned when Nick thought he was falling off a cliff but it was only 2 feet. Might have left that out so it wouldn't spoil the scene for new readers. I knew that scene was going to be ruined. And I usually don't even read those so it made me mad that I did this time.
The title page was autographed by both authors, so that was really cool.
When I saw that one of the authors is named Justin, and one of the characters is named Justin, I thought "Way to self-insert." I don’t think you should use your name in your book.
I know this is the 2nd in the series, but the beginning made no sense. I couldn't understand why you would plunk readers into the middle of a scene where they're already practicing to get Justin over his fears. The scene was the one that a reader spoiled, where Nick thought he was falling but he was only 2 feet up. They were in the middle of it and they had 1 more day to get him over it. The logical thing would have been to start with them finding out Nick got selected and then devising the plan to help him.
It wasn't very enjoyable because it was so juvenile and just not funny. Justin and Nick played knights, with plastic shields and swords. Nick had a watering can with a spout on his head for a helmet and used a stick for a sword. Justin's grand plan to help Nick was to create a story that they were knights saving a princess in distress. It irked me that this Fairytale mindset appeared in here, like girls always need saving and guys save the day by rescuing them.
Justin's parents kept asking if he had his pack and I'm like what the freak is going on? I didn't care what it was about, but it made me keep wondering what was going on. It turned out that he snuck his cat into his backpack so she could go up the mountain. Not funny. It was things like that that were supposed to be funny but they weren't. Justin gave Nick grief about being too chicken to climb the mountain, but it turned out he was afraid of heights. That particular spin didn't make any sense. Why would Justin squawk like a chicken, and make jokes to scare Nick about the plane ride, if he was also afraid of heights? It was stupid.
Justin was sweating and got down on his knees, unable to even look down at the view of the lake. Nick was the one saying it was okay. No. So Jackie, the only girl, had 2 scared boys with her. The girl had to be strong and save the day, while the boys made up babyish pretend games, didn't bring any water after she told them to, and instead brought candy bars, games, and a cat. It was too much to have the smart girl paired with two dumb boys.
Then there was a lady wearing tie-dyed clothes and flip flops and talking a lot and the cat ran away but came back and I'm like why is this in here? I saw attempts at humor but it missed the mark. I wasn't finding any of it funny.
Justin noticed the rock looked like a spine, then fancied it looked like a dragon's spine. He felt the rock and noticed it was bumpy, like the dragon had "goosebumps." Nick said it was afraid of them...They saw a cloud that Nick said looked like popcorn. Jackie noticed a dragon cloud, and Nick said maybe it cooked the popcorn. Like what? The maturity level was so juvenile. The jokes were cringe-worthy.
The cat disappeared for a second time, in case we thought it was so good the first time. I had no patience for it and just wanted to be done. Having the cat get away the first time is quite enough. Then we need a new idea.
They followed what they thought was the sound of Justin's cat, only to find it was a Catbird which sounds like a cat. That was kind of amusing but wasn't used to its full ability. They briefly saw a fox and wondered at its being out in the daytime. Justin thought he heard his cat again, took off after it, only to find a little girl and the tie-dyed woman. They were already late in getting back off the mountain and meeting one of their parents, and I was in no mood for any more shenanigans. It was one dumb thing after another. The lady had a bruised, swelling ankle and Jackie spring into action, indicating that the boys should "secure" the girl. She knew the RICE technique of how to treat it, checked for her pulse and set out elevating the ankle with a splint made from the child carrier (somehow) and had ice in a bag. Idk how old this girl is because the authors haven't deigned to inform readers, but I highly doubted her actions. I know she's taken a first aid class but I don't think a kid could do all this on their own. It was amusing that the guys thought she had literally brought rice and Nick asked if they had to cook it.
The plot just had to be diverted even more so the kid started eating leaves. Nick fed her broken pieces of the animal cookies he brought and she misidentified the remains of one of the cookies, mistook a deer without antlers for a dog. How interesting. "Doggie woof." I couldn't comprehend why I was reading this, why someone would write this.
I like the wilderness motto was included. Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints.
When Justin had to change a dirty diaper I was like you've got to be kidding me. It was one more ridiculous, outlandish occurrence to get their plans sidetracked. They drew sticks and I was grossed out that a boy had to change a little girl's diaper, and Jackie made Nick carry the bag with the dirty diaper. Like wow, just what I expected, for a diaper changing scene to appear.
"I didn't find the main bag, but I did find two diapers in a small plastic bag and the tidy-wipes. They must have spilled out when the carry bag went loose and turned over."
I don't understand why authors go into such extreme detail about things that don't matter. It's clear the author has a kid or knows about kids, what with tidy wipes and carry bags and whatnot, but seriously, we don't care about which bag she found, which bag the diapers were in, how the bag came to be there, what happened to the "main bag" versus the "carry bag." Just wipe the kid's butt and let's move on. Or better yet, don't include butt-wiping scenes in a children's book.
"Didn't you see the trail at all when you looked for that bag?"
Jackie nodded. "Not even a hint of it," she said.
Who didn't catch that? Nodding means yes. So basically, she said yeah, I didn't see it. Come on.
They realized they were lost, Justin looked for the cat again, Jackie realized they should stay put, went back to camp, the little girl somehow got Justin's whistle and wouldn't give it back, kept blowing it and her hair was bouncing as she flapped around. Anyone care that her hair was bouncing? Didn't think so. And how did she even get his whistle? A ranger and the famous hiker Jackie looks up to found them. The little girl's name, Sarah, means princess, so Nick and Justin ended up saving a princess after all. How ridiculous.
I saw the pictures of the boy and I had a dawning realization of disbelief. The series started with a 3rd grade writing assignment. I do believe that explains it. I don't know what anyone would get out of this, but it was all over the place. I expected a cute tale with mishaps and humor, not a conglomeration of things that didn't go together. The summary states that 1 character is afraid of heights and his friends have to help him. Then all of a sudden Justin is afraid of heights and Nick is ok. On the plane ride they noticed Jackie was quiet and not herself, and wondered if she was afraid of heights. Like, what? All 3 characters are afraid of heights; what is happening here? Then Nick stupidly thought they were telling him to pull the lever and release the balls now, when they said to do it when they say the word now. They released in the wrong spot and I thought it was going to be a big deal, like they went in the water and no one could get the balls to turn them in for prizes, but literally nothing was said about it. The scene ended and picked up that night with fireworks and Nick singing badly and I was like who cares? Justin couldn't figure out how the cat had gotten up on the top of the fire tower or how he’d gotten over his fear of heights there…
When I got done with this I couldn't believe what I had read. It was bad, so bad. I didn’t enjoy any of it, the plot, the characters. There was no charm, nothing of substance. The only positive I can say is that there were some informative topics about hiking and safety that kids can learn from, but boy, was this bad. It felt like it was trying to be like other books, popular kid series, but this didn’t have the talent or the humor to keep up with them. The characters felt like a copy of other characters, totally unoriginal. One girl and two guys, the girl is smart and knows everything while the boys need her help. It’s been done so many times. This sounded so cute and I saved it for the 4th of July weekend, thinking it was going to be so cute and funny, but I was extremely let down and for that and the bad writing and plot and everything else, I gave it 1.5. I was excited to read the others based off the titles but I don't think I can read any more of these.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2018
If you vacation in the Adirondacks, it would not be a bad idea to put a couple of the books from this series aside for a rainy day.
This is the second book in The Adirondack Kids series and a lot of what I said in my review of the first book in the series, The Adirondack Kids, is also true of this book. The setting and terrain of the Adirondacks is a little more front-and-center in book #2. The kids go climbing in this book and there are some prime examples of bad judgement. But I know from living on the edge of the Adirondacks and, several years ago, the Shawangunks, that people do show a lot of bad judgement in the mountains. People do things that are stupid but perfectly safe to do in town that can easily get you killed on the mountain. There are some lessons learned but (and I hope no one considers this a spoiler) no Adirondack kids were killed in this book.
This is the second book in The Adirondack Kids series and a lot of what I said in my review of the first book in the series, The Adirondack Kids, is also true of this book. The setting and terrain of the Adirondacks is a little more front-and-center in book #2. The kids go climbing in this book and there are some prime examples of bad judgement. But I know from living on the edge of the Adirondacks and, several years ago, the Shawangunks, that people do show a lot of bad judgement in the mountains. People do things that are stupid but perfectly safe to do in town that can easily get you killed on the mountain. There are some lessons learned but (and I hope no one considers this a spoiler) no Adirondack kids were killed in this book.
November 12, 2016
I loved this book as a kid. Now that i'm older some of the jokes and scenarios are childish and cheesy but it is all good fun.My teacher gave this to me when I came to school after they had attended an appearance from the author. I think the primary reason that I do enjoy these books as a whole is because they are real places that I went to as a kid and I used to hike Bald Mt. every summer it really helps you put the place into perspective. Overall this was my favorite Adirondack Kids Book out of the series and would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good story.
July 20, 2017
When vacationing in the Adirondacks in Old Forge, NY, we often hike up Bald Mountain on Rondaxe Road next to Fourth Lake. This path leads to the old fire tower. The fire tower has a great vista of the Fulton chain of lakes. This book is a good read for a fourth grader visiting the area and seeing and experiencing Bald Mountain first hand.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews