Review by Ian Keogh
Millions go hiking in North America every year, and frequently into some beautiful, but wild and inhospitable country while taking their children with them. Even planning all sensible precautions beforehand can’t account for surprises or accidents, and should the worst happen any child will be thankful for having absorbed Maxwell Eaton III’s astonishingly complete guide.
The host is Scout, a young girl initially accompanied by her frivolous older brother possessed of a haphazard attitude to safety. When he’s chased away by a bear, Scout is on her own. Well, not quite as there’s also a friendly skunk, master of the dumb joke, yet keen to learn what Scout has to explain.
Through her Eaton delivers an astounding amount of help in a frightening situation, explaining the first priority being to find shelter, but to ensure the location is safe. Scout knows what to look for, and examples of places to avoid are used by her brother, still being chased by a bear. After shelter comes warmth, so how to set a safe fire is explained, then where and how to place food and equipment around a camp site at night for maximum safety should other creatures appear. In North America bears are always a possibility.
Other decisions are whether to stay in one place and wait for help, which is always advised, or to attempt to find a way to civilisation. There are usually several options for this, and each choice comes with a number of pros and cons. For instance, following a river will ensure drinking water, but it may be the longest distance. Crossing mountains might be quicker but it’ll be harder and there’s an increased risk of adverse conditions. One thing that might not occur in the relief of being rescued is to ensure all markers to attract attention are cleared, as the rescue services don’t want to waste time following obsolete signals.
It can’t be overstated how much information Eaton supplies, but compared to later books in the series there’s a little padding to incorporate some jokes. Due to the complexity of some topics such as route finding, this isn’t an all-ages guide, but there’s going to be some young adults finding themselves in unexpected circumstances who’re going to be extremely glad to have read Lost in the Mountains. Eaton next turns his attentions to how best to act during a Tsunami.
