Fire on Headless Mountain

Iain Lawrence's Fire on Headless Mountain is a wilderness survival story for 9 year olds about three kids stranded on a lonely forest road with a fire they can't see.

What happens

Virgil is nearly twelve. He's small for his age, he knows every kind of cloud and he thinks a thunderstorm is the best thing in the world. His mum taught him all of that.

She died last year. Her last wish was to have her ashes scattered on Little Lost Lake, her favourite place. So Virgil, his big sister Kaitlyn and his brother Joshua (nineteen, and very new to driving) set off in the family's old camper van without their dad.

It's eighty miles of dirt road with no phone signal. And there's a lightning storm over Headless Mountain that Virgil thinks is brilliant.

Then the van gives up. The food got left behind at home, the water tank is empty, and somehow both are Virgil's fault. Meanwhile, short chapters on the far side of the mountain follow a giant old tree the lightning hit. It's burning slowly from the inside, and nobody is coming to put it out.

That's what makes it so gripping. You know about the fire. The Peppers don't!

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Grief runs all the way through this one. Virgil keeps slipping into memories of his mum, and he cries quietly in the back of the van. There's also a creepy Bigfoot book he wasn't supposed to read, and he can't stop remembering its scariest lines. For a child who's lost someone recently, or who's frightened of dark woods, it could be a lot.

For a reader who likes real danger and real feelings in the same book, it's a strong pick. The sibling squabbles are spot on too. Anyone with an older brother or sister will know exactly how it feels to be told to grow up when you were only trying to help (Virgil gets told that a lot).

And his mum's science is everywhere. Counting the seconds after a flash to see how far off the storm is. A jar-and-balloon barometer. Her rule of three for how long you can last without water. Those small details make her feel very present, even though she's gone.

What to read next

If they like stories where children have to survive with no grown-ups to help, try Katherine Rundell's The Explorer next. Four children walk away from a plane crash in the Amazon and have to work out how to stay alive.