Penny Draper's Terror at Turtle Mountain (Coteau Books, paperback, $8.95) contains fascinating historic narrative fiction, but its themes may be too mature for the nine-12 age range for which the book is marketed.
At 4:10 a.m. on April 29, 1903, when one hundred million tons of limestone rock crash down Turtle Mountain and onto the town of Frank, Nathalie is forced to confront her fears in the resulting devastation of Canada's worst slide disaster. As she joins the search for survivors and her missing friends and neighbours, she manages to rescue Baby Marion and prove herself a courageous heroine. In among the uplifting aspects of the tale, however, are passages which must be included to prove the impact of the crisis, but which could distress younger readers. Death, destruction, families separated and grieving -- these make for a story powerfully told and important within the context of our country's past.
