Peak

Hello. I have recently read a book called Peak, by Roland Smith. Peak Marcello is a fourteen year-old who loves to climb. Unfortunatly Peak lives in New York City, where there is not much to climb except skyscrapers(illegally). Peak tries to climb the Woolworth Building, a sky scraper in New York. Peak completed his goal(painfully), but was caught when he reached the top and is sent to Juvenile Detention center. While he is in JDC his long-lost father offers him an oppertunity to climb Mt. Everest(the tallest mountain in the world). Peaks options are:
1: Spend over three years in jail.
or
2: Climb Mt. Everest with his father.
Needless to say, he chose option 2. If Peak makes it to the top of Mt. Everest he will be the youngest person to stand over 29,000 ft.
Peak begins the gruesome climb with his father and his new friend Sun-jo. Sun-jo would also be the youngest person to stand above 29,000 ft., but not as young as Peak. Peak passes Base camp, Advance Base Camp (ABC), and many other camps until he is very close to his goal. Although he had many close calls along the way. Peak and Sun-jo are ten feet from the top when Peak decides to turn back so that Sun-jo will hold the record of the youngest person to stand above 29,000 ft. Peak returns home as a much more happy and changed person.
I believe that the author, Roland Smith did a great job using symbolism in this story. I think that he usined the idea of climbing up a mountain as the hard journey of life.