Cliffhanger by Jacqueline Wilson is a story that every child will be able to relate to, because all children have, at one time or the other, been made to do something by their parents that they have found a bit scary or distasteful, whether it is taking part in a competition or a simple thing like eating something they don’t like.

In the case of our nine-year-old hero Tim, he is sent on an adventure holiday by his father and it is the last thing he wants to do because he hates sports or physical activity of any kind! On arriving in the camp, to his horror, Tim finds the activities include climbing, abseiling, canoeing and what not! He quickly writes a postcard to his parents to come collect him immediately. Of course they don’t come and Tim has to survive through the holiday.

Luckily he makes a friend Biscuits, whose name clearly reflects his taste, and who is equally bad at all sports. Because of Tim, his team keeps losing points and his teammates are, understandably, upset. In an indirect but profound way, the story shows the importance of teamwork and making everyone’s differences come together to become their strength. After loads of sporty experiences that seem like torture to Tim, he slowly gains confidence and realises that adventure can actually be fun.

The book also conveys the fact that often we don’t realise what we are capable of doing until we actually do it and that our experiences bring about a lot of change in our personality, as it did in the case of our hero here.

Cliffhanger has simple but interesting illustrations by Nick Sharratt, most of them being the postcards Time writes to his parents and they convey his feelings in a humorous way.

Cliffhanger is an book that all children, especially boys, will enjoy a lot.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 19th, 2016