A Mighty Wall

by John Foley

A Long Way DownA lifelong climber, seventeen-year-old Jordan spends as much time as he can scaling the crags outside his Washington hometown. His friend A.J., a fellow climber and popular super-jock, keeps the gorilla football players off Jordan's back, and his girlfriend Juana likes the crags as much as he does. All in all, Jordan's got a crimp hold on happiness. But even the tightest grip is useless if a piece of the rock breaks away. For the climber, there are only two absolutes in gravity and death. Unfortunately, Jordan can't protect his friends from either. Praise for John "Fast-paced and easy to read. . . an engaging and reassuring story about friendship, love and loss, and truly living in the present moment."—Bill Sherwonit, author of To the Top of Denali and Living with Wildness "Convincing and exciting-Hoops of Steel is terrific and deserves a wide audience."-Carl Deuker, author of Night Hoops "[Running With the Wind is] a powerful and honest approach to coping with life's difficulties."-School Library Journal

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

John Foley is a high school teacher in Washington State. He previously worked as a newspaper reporter in the Chicago suburbs and Alaska, covering sports, cops, features, and any other beat that didn't require him to attend sanitary sewer meetings. Following a career change to teaching, he worked in Alaskan villages for several years, which led to his memoir Tundra Teacher. Hoops of Steel is based in part on his experiences as a basketball player. Foley was second string on the junior varsity at a Division III school, but prefers to simply say that he "played college ball."

Reviews

[P.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me right back to supervising the ropes course and the climbing wall at Camp Kieve. Knowing all the technical terms for the climbing apparatus made it understandable. However, I have no interest in trying this myself.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story starts in a town in Washington. Where A high school boy named Jordan developed his love for climbing. He has a job at a climbing gym called “You So Mighty” as an instructor. His mother hates that he climbs and wishes he would only climb in gyms but that is not enough for Jordan, he loves climbing in the Craigs too much. We know nothing about Jordan’s father and neither does he, every time he asks his mother she breaks into tears. He climbs with his friend AJ.
I liked this story because it was very casual and used a lot of climbing terminology. I could relate to it because I am a climber. It's a very slow book and doesn’t have a climax until over half of the book is done. It has very good character development so you feel for the characters in the story.
I would recommend this book to anybody who likes slow-paced books or anybody who likes to climb.

[Derek Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Mighty Wall
By: Derek Bowman

In the end gravity always wins... no matter what. Though he seems popular, young Jordan, nicknamed Jordo, has problems finding friends. Jordan a boy from Washington loves to climb mountains outdoors with his best friend AJ. AJ and Jordan go around Washington looking for the best peaks to climb and the best campsites. When spring break comes and all the kids are excited to do stuff, Jordan and AJ run off to climb the mountains. When Jordan and AJ go to a dangerous mountain with a lot of ridges and sharp slopes the unthinkable happens and everything goes wrong. Soon the helicopter comes and everyone around is in tears. When school comes back the football kids are angry and decide to beat up Jordan. Jordan gets made fun of and breaks out in tears for what they did to him. When Jordan gets home he decides to run away because people are "accusing" him for AJ's death and won't stop. Jordan heads out of town and camps in a forest alongside of the highway. Jordan stays there for a long time until his parents finally come find him and take him back home. When Jordan gets home he goes to the gym to climb the rock wall. When he arrives he gets kidnapped by the football players and they take him to a house and tie him up in a garage. They accuse Jordan again and beat him up until one of the football players threatens to kill him. As the football players continue to beat Jordan up Casey, a rival of Jordan, comes and sticks up for Jordan and together they beat up the kids. Later, they become friends and they decide to get a monument to put in the front of school to remember AJ by. In the end, young Jordan still goes mountain climbing and still thinks about AJ every time. In this book John Foley brings action and thrill that makes the readers want to jump out of their seats whether its Jordan climbing a dangerous mountain or Jordan getting beat up by the kids at school.

John Foley is previously a high school teacher at Washington State. Foley previously worked as a news reporter in Chicago and Alaska where he reported sports, crimes, and other features. He worked in Alaskan villages for several years which inspired him to write "Tundra Teacher". Another thing Foley did was play Division III college basketball where he became a star which inspired him again to write another book called "Hoops of Steel." John Foley is still currently writing young adult books that are very good and brilliant. I thought that John Foley was an excellent author in the book I read and I want to read more of his amazing books.

A thing that I really liked about this book was that it was very action filled and it made you want to keep reading. Since it was action filled it made the book go by quickly which made it an easy read for me. The book was so much easier to read for me since it was an interesting book that I actually enjoyed. I thought that because it was an action book I thoroughly understood more and it helped me finish my book so quickly. I like how John Foley writes with a message that teaches readers. It's almost like he relates to the problems and stuff he writes about. I admire his style of writing because it helps readers and makes readers imagine themselves as if they were the character in the book.

Another thing that I liked about this book was how much I could relate to this book. This book takes place in high school and involves playing sports/outdoor activities which I am in right now. It made me think of how this book related to me and how the struggles I could face and the problems that I may have might relate to Jordan's. In this book it talks about bullying and how Jordan doesn't really fit in with the popular kids because he likes different things, but they still make fun of him for it. This is kinda relatable to me because I like some things that others don't and that's perfectly fine because everyone is different just like Jordan and he can do whatever he wants as long as it makes him happy. This book also relates to me because I'm not the most popular kid in my class and I just try to do my best to fit in just like Jordan is. I continue to be who I am though because we all have a different purpose just like Jordan, but he keeps getting beat up by the football players because they can't accept him for who he is. Again, I love the way John Foley writes because it's just so empowering and strong.

In this book John Foley teaches a lesson to his readers. The lesson is that everyone wants to be like others and wants to fit in, but their having a hard time because others put them down by treating them poorly. I believe that Foley teaches readers that we are all different. In this book Jordan runs away for getting made fun of and getting depressed because he doesn't have much friends. It shows you that hurting someone's feelings can really upset them and make them do bad things and when those "things" happen you're the only one to blame. Overall, I thought that this book was an amazing book that was an easy read and it was written phenomenally. It taught a good lesson which is to always be yourself and to do your best to fit in. I would recommend this book to others in my grade because I think that they would also like how it relates to them. Finally, I just want to say that John Foley is an excellent author and this book was one of my favorite books I ever read.

[P.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me right back to supervising the ropes course and the climbing wall at Camp Kieve. Knowing all the technical terms for the climbing apparatus made it understandable. However, I have no interest in trying this myself.

[Michelle Torrez]

In my opinion I think that this was a good book because it gave a good perspective from that main characters point of view and what it was like for him growing up wanting to be a professional climber. It also gave a good point of view from what it was like him being in high school juggling family, relationships, and working at the gym. I think that it is a good book for teens to read because some teens may be able to relate to what the character goes through in the story.

[Callan O'brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Novel, A Mighty Wall, A boy named Jordan has an climbing experience when he is young and grows and obsession with it. Although, his mom does not like the idea of him climbing and even she so she does not enjoy it she supports him. His dad had died at young age and he is not sure why and whenever he asks his mom about it she seems to tear up. At his job at the You So Mighty rock climbing place he meets a girl that he likes a lot. They end up going out after a while. Jordan and his friend, A.J, go on a rock climbing trip and have a fun experience. He also, has a fun climbing experience with his mom.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book it is So good. It does swear a little if you don't like that kind of stuff then don't read. It has some really sad parts but in all it is really good and it kinda hit me hard because I rock climb.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really sad climax but overall i liked it!! It was a really cute story =)