Kids into books: Under the Mountain

This weeks title: Under the Mountain

Author: Maurice Gee

Illustrator: v8

Publisher: Puffin, $12.95

Age Group: 8-13 years


'Red-heads?' The man pushed his chair back. 'How do I get to the farm? Which way? No, never mind.' His face went pale, his eyes closed for a moment.

'Are you all right, sir?'

He said nothing, but in a moment stood up. 'Yes, I've got it. I can help.' He walked to the door.

'Sir,' the waitress cried, 'your soup, your dinner.' She ran after him to the foyer. But when she came into it he was not there. The glass doors were still and the stairs empty.

She peered into the office, behind the sofa. Nothing. He had vanished. That was impossible. 'Oh dear,' she said, and sat down. She felt quite faint.

Out in the bush the Matheson twins were lying side by side on a bank of fern. They were too cold, too weak, to cry out, too weak even to whimper.

They could not see each other in the dark, but they held hands tightly, and whispered from time to time for their parents to come.

Theo first, then Rachel, they drifted to sleep. As they lay there, damp and still, the small amount of warmth left in their bodies drained away.