Book Reviews and More: The Contest - Gordon Korman

The Contest

Everest Series Book 1

Scholastic Canada

ISBN 9780545392327

eISBN 9780545666350

ASIN B00E9BJ8J0

The Contest - Gordon Korman - Everest Book 1

This book was originally published in 2002, unlike the other 2 trilogies that published around the same time; the Island Series or the Dive Series, this series has not gone through a rebranding in 2025. Though there are a couple different versions of the cover of book one, one in brown and the current in blue. According to Goodreads there are 24 editions of the first volume in this series, including editions in English, French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish editions listed. My introduction to Korman’s works was the 39 Clues back in 2009. Since then I have read 65 of his books including this volume, a few of them more than once. I set the goal of reading all his books about 2020. I am over half way thorough his canon, and have completed all the stand alone books and am now just working my way through the remaining series. Not counting omnibus editions I believe that as of the summer of 2025 Korman has published 109 books. With each that I read I am entertained and often challenged, and I am always entertained. My son, who is 17 often, reads these books to me or with me, and he still loves them.

One description of this volume states:

“A thrilling adventure trilogy from Gordon Korman that follows a group of young climbers to the top of Mt. Everest!

The height of competition. Who will be the youngest person ever to climb Mount Everest? It's the ultimate test of endurance and skill. The mountain has claimed the lives of many climbers. Now Summit Athletic, the sports drink and energy bar company, is sponsoring a reality contest-twenty of the county's youngest climbers competing for four spots in a chance to climb Everest, the tallest mountain the world. The competition is fierce, and the kids haven't even finished with boot camp in the Rockies. Some aren't ready for what they will face. And some will stop at nothing to get to the top."

another states:

“A thrilling adventure trilogy from Gordon Korman about a number of kids competing to be the youngest person to ever reach the top of Mt. Everest

Four kids. One mountain.

They come from all across America to be the youngest kid ever to climb Everest. But only one will reach the top first. The competition is fierce. The preparation is intense. The challenge is breathtaking. When the final four reach the higher peaks, disaster strikes-and all that separates the living from the dead is chance, bravery, and action.”

The story begins with a prologue. That prologue lets us know that there will be a death in the series, but no indication of who, it states:

“It was a funeral in every way but one: The body was missing.

Not missing, exactly. Its location was common knowledge — that was the most horrifying part of all this. The body was nine thousand miles away in a country called Nepal, twenty-seven thousand feet up Mount Everest, the highest point on planet Earth.

On Everest, everything above twenty-five thousand feet is known as the Death Zone. There, overpowering wind gusts approaching two hundred miles per hour can wrench a strong person clear off the mountain, and bone-chilling nighttime cold of one hundred degrees below zero causes frostbite and hypothermia. Wherever the body was, it was surely frozen solid.

Twenty-seven thousand feet is above the range of any helicopter. At that altitude, the air is simply too thin to provide the rotor blades with any lift. A stranded climber would have a better chance of being picked up off the surface of the moon than in the Death Zone. Atop Everest, you are your only rescue squad — you and the others who take on the mountain with you.

It was easy to spot those teammates among the mourners, and not just because of their young age. Their physical bodies fidgeted in the chapel, constricted by grief and tight collars. But their minds were still on the other side of the globe, five miles straight up, in the Death Zone.

They had that much in common with their unfortunate friend. It was a place they might never truly leave.”

From the very beginning we know this is a tragic tale. This first instalment in the series begins with Dominic Alexis desperate to find a letter ‘V’ in a wrapper or cap of a Summit Athletic Fuel or Energy Bar. He is seeking the last spot on a competition to win a trip to climbing school and a shot at being part of a youth trip to climb Mount Everest! His older brother Christian already has an invite to the camp and is considered a shoe in for the final team.

The main events in this instalment of the series are the training camp, the elimination of hopefuls. We go from 24 candidates to a team of 4. And what started as friendly challenges soon turns into a push to make the final team. And readers being privy to information around the financing of the climb, and the influence that money has on who is being selected and who is not. We also get to see the team in action as they attempt a climb in Alaska as a test run.

It is a story in the adventure story with four young readers. This series is published as three short works; it is also published in an omnibus edition with all three stories in 1 volume. Unfortunately that 3 in1 edition is out of print and it looks like it was never released as an eBook. What I like about the shorter versions, is they are great for the classroom, or reluctant readers. This volume is another short read, it grabs your attention, and draws you in. And the ending leaves you desperate for the next volume. And as mentioned this is one of a few series written around the same time, in a similar format.

This story is another great read from Korman’s masterful pen.

I still have about 40 books from series left to read to have completed the canon of Korman’s works. I am grateful I finally gave this one a read; I look forward to the other 2 in the trilogy, and finishing the other 2 trilogies as well. It is an intense read start to what looks to be an exciting series!

Books by Gordon Korman:

MacDonald Hall Series:

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978)

Go Jump in the Pool (1979)

Beware the Fish! (1980)

The Wizzle War (1982)

(formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)

The Zucchini Warriors (1988)

Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)

(aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)

The Jokes on Us (1995)

(formerly Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall)