The Contest cover

The Contest

by Gordon Korman

The Barnes & Noble Review One mountain. One winner. Four hopefuls. In the first thrilling book of Gordon Korman's Everest series, The Contest, a group of daring young mountain climbers compete for the chance to scale the world's highest peak. In a robust story line that keeps the characters' relationships as tense as their safety cords, we follow along as 19 kids are eliminated from the SummitQuest contest, leaving only four. Decided by the focused Cap Cicero, a world-class alpinist, the competition takes several unexpected twists -- including a climber's surprising pullout and one candidate's life-threatening fall into an icy crevasse -- as the group is quickly narrowed to a core few. Will the billionaire's timid nephew make the cut, and what secret is he hiding? Could the expedition handle the nasty Tilt Crowley? What about the extreme Sammi, experienced but flawed Bryn, or the two courageous Alexis brothers? Whoever makes it, this fierce first book sets us up with mountain-sized action and suspense. Just as cool as Korman's books. Matt Warner

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?