Secret of Lost Mountain
Gripping Catholic Mystery/Adventure Novel
for Imaginations of All Ages
by
Bernard Scott
Illustrated by
Ronaldo Florendo
See Excerpt
"This is a short novel but a very enjoyable read. It starts as an interesting adventure into a strange land and in the end
becomes a tale of redemption and healing
(physically, spiritually and emotionally)."
—Amazon Reader
A rare foreigner arrives at the port of a far off, isolated land.
The Chiroki native, Teeku, asks the explorer to bring a magic object upriver to the Chiroki
tribal chief.
The nine-year-old Sweet Berry is intrigued with the mysterious object the explorer wears.
Some of the illustrations from the novel
An agnostic scientist turned explorer travels to a remote land to chase down rumors of a primitive tribe said to be wrapped in silence, even when they speak. How can this be? His pursuit for answers takes him up a dangerous river and ultimately to the Lost Mountain. There he learns the awful secret that afflicts this tribe. When the explorer is confronted with much more than he was questing for, the story takes on far deeper significance. Setting science aside, he seeks to help them. A series of mysterious events takes matters out of his hands, teaching him something far beyond the realms of natural science. Thereafter, lives are never the same.
This Instructor's Manual by a literature professor helps young adult readers to become more sensitive to the elements of good fiction, such as plot, rising action, conflict, climax, resolution, character, point of view, theme, etc.
Catholic teachers and home schooling parents will appreciate the author's application of these general points to this particular novel, along with questions (and answers) for discussion and/'or essay.
Comments by a Ninth Grader
Overall I thought that it was a really good book. I thought that it was very well written. Once all of the explaining of what the explorer was doing, etc., I could not stop reading it.
I think kids of all ages would really like it. Also all genders would like it. It wasn't a book that only a girl or boy would like. It is a fun book for everyone to
enjoy!
I really hope that this book becomes reading material in private Catholic schools so that other people will be exposed to this book.
"Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book!!!! I really enjoyed it!!!!
—Mackenzie N. Tarpon Springs, FL
Note: For her confirmation name, this young lady took the name of the saint who figures importantly in Secret of Lost Mountain. The Bishop who was administering the sacrament was unfamiliar with this saint. He asked her where she had learned of her. The young lady replied, "In a book." Well" the Bishop said, "you had me stumped."
Comments by a Catholic Priest
I have to sit down and tell you what a marvelous time I had reading Secret of Lost Mountain. I agree it is in a class of its own. At first I thought it was a work of juvenile fiction, and it could remain in that category as far as I’m concerned, for the story is not really a complicated one.
However, the concepts, ideas, and issues that the story deals with are similar in scope only to Plato’s Cave.
Perhaps it should be read by youth who will simply enjoy the story without realizing they are being exposed to philosophical concepts (and theology) they will not get elsewhere.
It is a profoundly deep book, yet strangely one whose message might be better portrayed on the screen. …
Let me offer you my encouragement to continue in your efforts to get it read.
—Rev. Thomas H., Archdiocese of Hartford
Book Review by Robert Curtis, O.P., in The Catholic Sun
"This novel is a unique, creative, and interesting read for anyone looking for something different."
