The Fear Place [Paperback]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1994 | Age Level: 8 and up

For Doug's brother, Gordie, the ridge with its spectacular view is a magical, special place, but for Doug, it's The Fear Place. Two years ago, Doug hiked to the ridge during his family's annual camping trip, and he vowed never again to cross the narrow ledge from which the earth dropped away six hundred feet to the canyon below.

But now the boys' parents have been called from their vacation by a family emergency, and Doug and Gordie are alone in the wilderness. After one of their seemingly endless fights, Gordie has stomped away from their campsite. When Girdle doesn't return, Doug fears the worst, particularly when he hears reports that a cougar has been sighted nearby. Doug knows he has to go after his brother, and he knows where he will find him. What he can't imagine is the surprising source of the courage to overcome his fears.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For 12-year-old Doug, a two-foot-wide ledge on a Colorado mountainside has been the "fear place" ever since he became paralyzed with fright while trying to cross it two years ago, on one of the family's annual camping trips. His brother Gordon, who is 18 months older, goads him constantly, trying to make him admit that he's scared. Their arguments come to a boil when a family emergency forces their parents to leave the boys at the campsite. The "fear place," together with a stalking cougar, plays its expected part in the climax as the brothers find that they must work together to survive. Newbery Medalist Reynolds (Shiloh) presents a solid action story, tense and involving although it does play out somewhat predictably. The family dynamic is unusual-a tough-minded Cuban refugee father, a mother whose competitiveness with her own siblings borders on the dysfunctional. And the novelist offers an unexpected dividend in her thoughtful portrait of Doug, who is realistic about his shortcomings even as he works to overcome them. A satisfying wilderness adventure. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-A three-week trip to the Colorado Rockies is marred when Doug and Gordon's parents must go to Boston for a funeral and leave the boys alone at the campsite. With no one there to referee, their bickering escalates, and Gordon goes off to camp higher up in the mountains by himself. Doug's hours pass slowly until a cougar begins visiting him regularly. After a few days, Gordon has still not returned, so Doug sets out to find him; the cougar follows. Helped by his observations of the cougar, he overcomes his fear of heights, hiking across a narrow ledge with a sheer drop-off, and finds his brother, who has broken his leg. The return trip is harrowing, but they make it. This story is suspenseful enough to keep readers turning the pages. The sibling rivalry is the most believable part of the plot; the dialogue is snappy and portrays the difficult relationship well. The boys' mother's poor relationship with her brother (who has just died) serves as a telling counterpoint to her sons' problems. Not so believable is the idea that parents would leave their adolescent children alone in such a remote area. The rapport between Doug and the cougar also strains credibility. Nevertheless, the conclusion is satisfying-surviving a life-threatening situation does cause the boys to reflect on their situation, and readers know they will return home all the wiser.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689318669
• ISBN-13: 978-0689318665
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,664,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WILDERNESS SURVIVAL AND SIBLING RIVALRY, May 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fear Place (Paperback)

This intense tale will rivet you to your chair, just as the young hero is riveted in fear about a certain ledge on the mountain. Extended sibling rivalry between brothers threatens to undermine their very survival, as implacable fate and terse narrative communicate a sense of impending danger. The plot marches inexorably to the moment when Doug must brave a critical site on a circuitous mountain trail, which has long been his personal fear place.

Tension builds in this sparse story--almost like a play with basically three characters: 12-year-old Doug, the younger brother/victim of his older brother's nasty tricks; Gordon who baits Doug daily for psychological sport; and a wild-card nobody counted on--a non-aggressive female cougar.

Doug comes of age on this short, geological camping trip with his hated rival brother and preoccupied parents--until they are called away by a family emergency, leaving the boys to fend for themselves. Each tries to survive independently, with unexpected results. But there is another fear place inside Doug's conscience, when Gordon fails to return to camp after several days--fear For his brohter. Since when is Doug his brother's keeper?

Nor is it safe to be exploring treacherous ridges and unknown trails with a cougar roaming about. But it would take too long to notify the park ranger. So Doug's his worst fear place is the threat of the denuded family-- emotional baggage inherited from his mother, who never was reconciled to Her brother. Can anything break this chain of sibling jealousy and rejection? A gripping tale which will spellind the reader.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS GREAT, December 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fear Place (Paperback)

THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BECAUSE IT CONNECT TO REAL LIFE. THIS IS ABOUT A CONFLICT BETWEEN DOUG AND HIS BROTHER GORDIE. THEY DONT GET ALONG WHITH EACH OTHER BUT AT THE END THEY REALIZED THAT THEY NEED EACH OTHER AND THEY LOVE EACH OTHER.I FELT VERY GOOD THAT THE TWO BROTHERS KIND OF RESOLVE THEIR CONFLICTS.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read!, June 23, 2000

By 

Gregg Banas - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fear Place (Paperback)

As a teacher, I would strongly recommend this book be added to any classroom library or list of books for students to read. The sibling rivalry between Doug and his older brother Gordie will be easily related to among students. There is definite growth in the main character as he is forced to face his strongest fear. Students will be able to discuss and connect with this story in many ways: the way their parents left the brothers in the wild alone, the sibling rivalry between the brothers and/or between their mother and uncle, or how the cougar plays into the story. This novel will keep your students interest.