The White Gates [Hardcover]

Bonnie Ramthun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2008 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

WHEN TORIN SINCLAIR’S mom gets a job as the town doctor in Snow Park, Colorado, Tor can’t wait to learn to snowboard. But on Tor’s first night there, a member of the high school snowboarding team dies. “It’s the curse,” everyone whispers. Tor’s new friends Drake and Raine explain that there’s an old Native American curse on the doctors of the town. Snow Park can never get a doctor to stay. Tor and his friends must piece together a mystery involving an old mine, a Ute curse, the entire snowboarding team—who just might be blood doping in order to win competitions— and an attempt to save the wild river otters of Colorado. But to complete the puzzle, will Tor have to ride the deadly White Gates? And how will he survive the avalanche that follows?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—Twelve-year-old Tor has recently moved from southern California to a small ski resort in Colorado where his mother is starting her first job after finishing her medical training. When Dr. Sinclair's first patient, a high school student named Brian, unexpectedly dies, mother and son become aware of a curse that has been beleaguering the town's doctors since the 1950s. Pressured by a local doctor who wanted to buy her family's mountain for ski development, a Ute woman (who also happens to be the ancestor of Tor's first friend in town) cursed the doctor and all of Snow Park's future healers. Through some extraordinary coincidences, Tor is able to both solve the mystery surrounding Brian's death and uncover the lost mining deed, which will ensure that the mountain will not be developed (and thus remove the curse). As the plot creaks laboriously along, with improbability piling upon improbability, the whole thing becomes increasingly difficult to follow and even more difficult to care about. Snowboarding information and Native American lore are nicely integrated into the events of the novel, but few readers will stick around long enough to notice.—Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

From Booklist

When Torin Sinclair’s mother lands a job as a doctor in Snow Park, Colorado, Torin looks forward to learning how to snowboard. The sudden death of a young snowboarder, however, causes public hostility toward his mother. Then Torin learns of an old curse placed on all of the town’s physicians. Building on the classic formula of the newcomer who encounters the strangely hostile residents of a small western town, Ramthun spins an adventurous mystery that features elements of the supernatural, chases on snowboards, abandoned mine tunnels, a dramatic avalanche, and a blood-doping scandal. Along the way, Torin and his friends help unmask a criminal and save a colony of river otters. Some readers may be disappointed with the ending, in which the kids’ sleuthing is downplayed. Still, snowboarders will like the action scenes, and mystery fans will enjoy puzzling over the entwined plot elements. Grades 4-7. --Todd Morning

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (November 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375845542
• ISBN-13: 978-0375845543
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,408,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bonnie Ramthun is a Colorado wife, mother, and mystery novelist. Her novels for adults include Ground Zero, a thriller published by G.P. Putnam, Earthquake Games, a 2000 Colorado Book of the Year nominee, and The Thirteenth Skull. The White Gates, her middle grade mystery published by Random House in 2008, is a Junior Library Guild Premiere selection and was a finalist for the Missouri Truman Award. She is a former chapter president of Mystery Writers of America, a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and former war gamer for the Department of Defense.

There are two cherished compliments that Bonnie Ramthun has received for her writing.

A reader wanted to know if the childhood events that happened to Eileen Reed in Earthquake Games had actually happened to Bonnie as a child. She considers this a high compliment - she made a lonely Wyoming car crash and an abandoned child so real that her reader thought it actually happened.

The second compliment was when a reader wrote her a letter and praised The Thirteenth Skull, Bonnie's third Eileen Reed book. The reader loved the novel and hated the villain so much that she thought he should have died more slowly. Bonnie will never forget this compliment either, for it means that she created a character so evil and so hateful that the reader wanted him to die...harder.

Bonnie's favorite stories are the ones where ordinary people are placed in world-changing events. The people who live in her stories are fictional, but she tries to make them so real you want to have coffee with them. Or kill them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Boys who Love Sports, August 8, 2009

By 

K. C. Egan (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The White Gates (Hardcover)

It is hard to find books for pre-teen boys to read and love. This book hit the mark. My son could not put the book down and commented that he wished the story would not end. He is very happy that a sequel could be in the works for the main character of the story. This book is highly recommended.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great chapter book, fun and fast!, December 10, 2008

By 

R. Tomich "wyohaygal" (Wyoming, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The White Gates (Hardcover)

This book is a great story, and a great chapter book for someone looking for a book for a boy who likes reality fiction. Who wouldn't want to become a great snowboarder, solve a mystery, find friends and save his family? It is fun for adults, and would sound great read aloud. The town, the boarding, the mystery and each twist of the story is fantastic. I especially like the fact that it is a non-fantasy book, which appeals to a whole range of kids and parents. I think it is this year's best book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read! Great characters, Interesting plot., June 7, 2009

By 

Dolly (Superior, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Gates (Hardcover)

A friend (who is a mom of two children) recommended this book for both me and my 9 yr old son to read. Once I started to read it, I couldn't put it down. The mystery and colorfully quirky main characters captivated me. The author paints a vivid world for her reader - I didn't know much about snowboarding or what White Gates were and Ms. Ramthum managed to transform me into a snowboarder-wanna-be! My son is looking forward to reading it next and I am looking forward to our discussions about the mystery and choices the characters make.