Paige rolled
away, pulling herself toward the gap in the fort just as the air filled
with a loud crackle and a strange earthy smell, like the odor of ironing.
The fort opened up beneath her, and Paige dropped through the gap as the
air above her exploded. Then she was falling, falling through the rain and
hail and wind toward the target below and its enormous red dot.
Snakes and Ladders takes place in the late nineteen hundreds. It’s
about thirteen-year-old Paige Morrow. Paige, her brother Toby, and their
mother Susan are staying at their lakeside cabin for the summer. Something
is different; her mother has taken up drinking and burying herself in a
typewriter, writing her book. And her father has stopped coming up on
weekends.
Lonely and bored, Paige befriends the mysterious arborist’s troubled
daughter, Janie, and her gang. As she hangs out with them more and more,
trouble starts to occur, and Paige finds herself in a web of lies and
pain-maybe even murder. If that wasn't enough, her tree fort is being cut
down! How will she save her tree? What can she and Toby do about her
mother’s new habits, or her father’s sudden neglect? Also, what is really
going on with Janie and her father?
This is definitely my favorite book. I love the story line, and the way that
Smith writes is like you’re Paige’s best friend, and that you are
experiencing everything with her. The story made me laugh, feel frustrated,
scared, nervous, and the ending made me cry. I loved every part of it.
Recommended for ages ten and up, but some parts are a bit hard to follow and
some things are a bit mature for a younger reader.
Overall, best book I’ve ever read. I give Smith’s first novel, Snakes
and Ladders, five stars.
RATING:
