Landslide!

by Véronique Day

When Laurent’s father called him ‘a snail’ and sent him off to the mountains with four younger children to learn responsibility, he didn’t realize what a difficult task his son would have to face. For the children get buried alive as a result of landslide. No one knows their whereabouts and they have to live in a strange house in total darkness, with almost nothing to eat and drink but goat’s milk, and only the sound of the cuckoo clock to help them count the hours of the twelve days which pass before they are rescued.In this dilemma Laurent comes out of his snail’s shell, but though the others accept him as their leader, they do not always obey him, especially his little sister Bertille. She brings them into even greater danger when she tries to break the rules. The children have to learn to love with rats, and Laurent gets badly wounded before he finally finds a way of signalling for help.This is a book you are certain to read twice – first quickly, to find out what happens, and then again slowly, to re-live the adventures and perhaps imagine how you would have managed in the same predicament. For all Puffin readers between 9 and 13.

Genres: Childrens, France, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book about a group of French children, who get stranded over the Christmas holidays in a hotel in Monpierre.
While they sleep, the rain-soaked hillside collapses on the house, and the children are trapped. Unfortunately, no one is looking for them. When their vacation began, one of the children wrote happy messages on a stack of postcards and bribed a little girl in Montpierre to mail one to their parents every day. Thus, it is up to the children to rescue themselves - before it is too late!

[Elizabeth Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 8 year old granddaughter liked the story very much.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this several times as a child and decided to re-read it. It held up pretty well except, well, what parents would send five children off on a vacation on their own... hmmm. I mean what could wrong? Luckily the children are bright and resourceful.

[Phil Ferri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in circa 1958 France, when five children (ranging from about age five to fifteen) on their Christmas vacation are buried in a cabin by a landslide, first panic, then a calm, and finally desperation rules each individual's actions. Two goats wandering about in the dark underground rooms with the children cause confusion and filth. Miss Day tells the story almost purely through the dialogue (which seems natural) of the five, and in so doing, has wisely avoided over-written, foolish sounding descriptions and exclamations. The reader feels the slow build up of tension which ends on the twelfth day with rescue, and can easily visualize the motley, nearly starved children and the stench-filled, barely livable rooms. A fine story of endurance; the author does not canonize the children in the midst of strife, but presents them realistically. A good read if you can find a copy

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a child and it really stayed with me.

[Dave Appleby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laurent, at fourteen, is a disappointment to his father so he is sent to supervise four younger children on holiday near Montpelier. A landslide traps the five kids in a house on the edge of a ravine. No one notices that they are missing for over a week. They have to use ingenuity to survive and try to escape.

The book is written in third person omniscient past tense and in a remarkably didactic form, even when giving dialogue. Here, for example, is Lauren (14) explaining to 6-year-old Daniel why the children won't be suffocated by the fumes in the next room: "The fumes will stay in a closed room, like water in the bottom of a basin. The gas is produced by burning wood and coal, and even by us when we breathe. Your body is, in fact, like a stove. Your lungs are a hearth that draws in clean air and throws off carbon dioxide. But here in this room there is nothing to worry about; I have left the rubbish-tip wide open and although it's not warm, we have fresh air." The six-year-old replies: "I see, thank you." (Ch 3) The book is full of practical things like this explaining how the children survive their predicament but the dialogue is farcically old-fashioned. And did Parisian parents really send their children off to stay over Christmas in a hotel by themselves as a character-building exercise for a young teenager?

I wasn't sold on the verisimilitude. The characters are well-drawn (especially naughty Bertille) but they all sound so much older than they are supposed to be. After a discussion about planting pine trees to prevent soil erosion, six-year-old Alexis observes, philosophically: "Some people demolish everything and others build it up again." (Ch 4)

But at the end, when Lauren says "You can tell Papa that the snail came out of its shell" I was sobbing. So even this matter-of-fact narration packed, for me, a punch.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am fond of vintage disaster/survival fiction, but in this one, the disaster is almost too much to take. Five children are trapped in a small house entirely covered by a landslide. No one knows they are there. The parents think they are still in their holiday hotel, the hotel people think the kids went home, and the house's owners didn't know the kids stopped by to visit with them. It is totally dark inside the house. After recovering from carbon monixide poisoning (the rubbish chute lets enough air in to save them) They scramble around looking for food, and find enough to keep themselves alive for a little bit. But there are rats, getting at the food. One of the younger kids is a real pill and refuses to cooperate, stealing food and hoarding it. The oldest boy injures himself, and is on his way to dying of blood poisoning. Moral is low. The goats, which were saved from the collapsing attached barn, give milk, but also defecate everywhere. There was little thoughtful inventive initiative taken by the kids to either try to escape or make life more bearable until quite late in the book, but at that point they had failed to impressive me enough to care. Also it is such a horrid situation it is not fun reading. Also, I would have looked harder for candles and matches right at the begining....

[Cassondra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years ago my sixth grade teacher read this to the class. It meant so much to me then and I found a copy as an adult and had to grab it. If you haven't read it find a copy and read it to your kids and grandkids.

[Rachel Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this in sixth grade and being entranced. It was a story full of adventure and a bit scary to an 11 year old. I pulled it out of the library to see how it aged and it read a bit differently. Still a good book, but not exactly as thrilling 30 years later.

[Sarah Holland]

Finally found this book again - I've remembered for years them finding the ham on the ceiling beams when they could see again!

[Ashley Perham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another reread of an awesome 60s kids' book! It basically tells the story of how these kids get trapped by a landslide and have to survive. It was cool how we sort of got to know all five of the kids. There's Laurent, who's shy and is on this trip to "come out of his shell" (although I don't think there's anything wrong with doing science experiments in your room), Veronique, who's also shy and gets out of her comfort zone, Bertille, who's annoying and doesn't obey and causes so many mishaps and needs a spanking, Daniel, who loves goats, and Alexis, who also loves goats. I like how the rescue tied in some other characters too! This is just a sort of comfortable read that gives you a glimpse into French culture.

[Gwendolynpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about kids who are alone in a house when a landslide covers it. It scared me as a child to think this could really happen. The children are siblings from very young to teenagers and they have some pets in the house with them. There were injuries and death in the book and it troubled me alot. I did find the book riveting and I think I read it in a couple of hours because I HAD to know what happened.

[Suzieh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a child and always remembered this story fondly. I couldn't remember the name of the book or the author so I did what you must do in that case.... I googled it. I put in some keywords, children, avalanche, Europe and eventually I was led to this book. I wasn't satisfied assuming it was the correct book so I purchased it from Amazon and voila! I was transported back to my childhood. The book even smells like the library :)

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this years ago as a little girl and happened to think of it today, which I think says something about the book in and of itself.A real page turner- I think it set me on the course of reading non-fiction travel and adventure that I pursue as an adult

[Walt · Rating 5 out of 5]

True story.

[Karine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je l'avais lu quand j'étais jeune et c'était devenu un de mes livres préférés, que je quittais rarement. Je l'ai relu avec beaucoup de plaisir... Un goût de nostalgie heureuse.