When a sporty, outdoorsy teen's leg is crushed in a mountain-hiking accident, he has to face new challenges one tiny-but-huge step at a time. A fast-paced, powerfully told novel for middle-grade readers about limb loss, resilience and becoming excited about the future again.
What if you took a shortcut below some rocks and your whole life came sliding down?
High on the shingle slopes of Mount Pangonui, on a long-anticipated tramp to the summit, 14-year-old Ben encounters a pile of huge, half-buried boulders in his path. His dad's always telling him to go slow, be careful, but Ben's keen to get on with the climb, and takes a shortcut beneath them. What he hasn't reckoned is how unstable shingle can be. His sinking steps trigger a shift underfoot; the rocks begin a slow slide towards him. His last conscious realisation is that his leg is pinned under a boulder the size of a refrigerator.
In the intense days and weeks that follow, Ben recovers from the surgery that removed his left leg just below his knee, and his mind returns to the maunga, his impatience, that split-second decision. Will anything ever be 'normal' again?
One goal keeps him going- he will finish the climb he started.
