“The Honest Truth” by Dan Gemeinhart is a novel about a boy named Mark who has cancer. Other than this, Mark is pretty normal, he likes to write haikus and take pictures. Before his grandfather died of cancer, Mark promised that he would climb Mount Rainier for him. Now Mark is dying of the same cause, so he is determined to climb Mt. Rainier. The novel shows the riveting tale of Mark and Beau, his dog’s, journey to the top of Mt. Rainier. The novel is a great story about persistence and friendship, as it shows two views of the same story. One view is from Jessie, Mark’s best friend, as she suffers while Mark is gone. She knows where Mark is because of a note he gave her with directions not to tell anyone. Unfortunately, knowledge can be a burden so Jessie wonders in Mark is hurt or in danger and she is the only one that can help him with that information. The other view is from Mark. He has to go on a journey alone except for his dog a cap so he can cover his bald head and some supplies. He has to get to Mt. Rainier, a 200-mile trek, without any help, overcoming obstacles without anyone knowing who he is. All by a 12-year-old suffering with cancer.
Mark goes and buys two tickets to Spokane. When his family finds out he’s missing they call the police who go to Spokane to find him. However, Mark is smart, he made a decoy to go to Spokane and actually left to Seattle. Once there, he uses some money to eat some dinner at a diner. Here Mark seems angry and rude when the waitress was trying to be nice. When he left the diner he faced his first obstacle. A group of teenagers beat him up and robbed him. However, when they saw his bald head and realized he had cancer, they left him $20. Mark sneaks into a Mexican restaurant and uses the washroom as he is bruised and bleeding. When he is discovered by the woman cooks, he asks to use the phone. He almost gives himself up but then Beau barks which reassures him and he tips them off that Mark is in Moses Lake. However, Jesse’s point of view shows that the police are not fooled and listen to the barks and the voice and identify Mark and Beau. They trace the call to the phone in Seattle but, Mark has already left. Jessie now goes into Mark and her secret hiding place and she found a goodbye note from Mark. The note said he was going to climb Mt. Rainier. This left Jessie with a choice she would tell and relieve Mark’s parents or she would keep it a secret but risk losing Mark forever. Back in Mark’s point of view, he climbs a bus without the driver noticing and sits behind a little girl. The little girl comes to sit with Mark and introduces herself as Shelby. She says she is going to visit her father who is divorced. She is very angry, but Mark tries to calm her down and asks her to forgive her father. After this on the next bus, the bus driver notices that Mark didn’t pay and drops him off promising him to bring him back to an earlier city. Since Mark knows this cannot happen Mark tries to get to Paradise or Mt. Rainier by foot, a long trek. On his way, the weather gets a lot colder and a raging river blocks his path. The only way to cross the path is by a rickety log across the river. Mark went across first then Beau followed. Suddenly, Mark lost his balance and then fell in. The last thing he saw was Beau fearlessly jumping in after him. Together they fight and get out of the water onto the island. They start a fire and warm themselves. By the next day, they are walking on the road again. Soon a man in a truck named Wesley stopped by and asked them to hop in and he’ll take them to Paradise. After a little bit of talking, Mark knew that Wesley knew who he was. However, he told him that maybe this runaway kid ran away because he was tired of being the poor sick kid and Wesley dropped both Mark and Beau off at the foot of the mountain. Mark and Beau climbed up but soon got lost. After a little bit of walking, they found a huge crevice they needed to cross. Mark backed up far away and jumped with all his might and barely made it across. When he got up he told Beau to jump, Beau hesitated then trusted Mark and jumped. Beau just missed and fell into the crevice, but he got caught in the ice. This gave time for Mark to lower down a rope and told Beau to play Tug of War, luckily, Mark pulled Beau out of the crevice. Mark knew there was no hope for them as they were so exhausted so he found a clearing and went to sleep with Beau. When he woke up, Beau was gone, mark quickly realized that Beau ran away to a place where he would most likely survive. Mark didn’t get mad or anything he just smiled for Beau, and went to sleep. When he woke up again he was in a hospital room with Jessie besides him. She said that the searchers found him in a clearing in the mountain, almost dead but not quite. Mark asked if they found Beau and Jessie said, of course, he was in the parking lot barking like crazy and leading them up the mountain and straight to you. He even fearlessly jumped over a giant crevice in which he almost fell in. Without Beau, I don’t think we would be having this conversation.
This novel shows a lot of courage persistence and friendship. I recommend this book to middle school readers. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It is very emotional and talks about a strong topic. It is a great novel with a strongly developed character and plotline. This book shows a lot about when to keep a friend’s secret and when not to on a much bigger scale. It is an incredible, strong and an emotional book. And that is the honest truth.