At the Edge: Daring Acts in Desperate Times
At the edge, life is in crisis. Action must be taken, but the path is not always
clear. Stay or flee? Resist or submit? Help another or save yourself?
At the Edge: Daring Acts in Desperate Times features more than twenty true-life stories about life-threatening situations and the wrenching choices made by the people facing them.
A Sample
Leap of Faith
The subway station at 137th Street and Broadway in New York City was busy as usual. It
was just before 12:45 p.m., and people were milling around the platform. Most were strangers to each other. Many were in a rush.
Twenty-year-old
Cameron Hollopeter, a New York Film Academy student, was there, just another face in the crowd, waiting along with everyone else.
So was Wesley Autrey, a fifty-year old construction worker. He was on the platform with his daughters Syshe and Shuqui, waiting for
the train that would
shuttle the girls home to their mother before Wesley headed off to his night-shift job.
Just before the No. 1 train
was scheduled to arrive, Cameron had a seizure. Without warning, the nerve cells in part of his brain misfired, shooting impulses
through his body that caused his muscles to spasm. He collapsed on the platform, arms thrashing and legs jerking uncontrollably.
Wesley
saw Cameron go down and rushed to help. Two women joined him. While they tended to Cameron, Wesley raced across the station to call
for help. By the time he returned, Cameron seemed better. The young man had staggered to his feet, but he was unsteady, weaving across
the platform, teetering dangerously close to the edge. Then, in front of Wesley and dozens of other horrified witnesses, he toppled
off, falling on the subway tracks just as the headlights of the No. 1 train appeared.
Time seemed to stand still for Wesley. He had a split second to make his decision: stand on the platform with his young daughters at his side and watch disaster unfold, or risk his own life and do something to help the young man....
"Great for both dipping into in snippets or for an engrossing read from start to finish, At the Edge will intrigue young readers with a sense for adventure"
Canadian Children's Book Centre, 2009
"This collection of real-life stories examines the human urge to resist, flee, surrender or stay one's ground when the stakes are the highest. This compelling recounting of daring acts in desperate times will leave readers reflecting on past heroic acts and wondering how they themselves might respond if they should ever find themselves 'at the edge'."
2010 Manitoba Book Awards Program
"From Iran to Berlin, from Russia to Peru, and right here in our own backyard, there are people who are to be admired for their reaction to diversity, to pain, to terror and to disquiet....If you like adventure and are inspired by others, you can't help but love this book!"
Honours
Our Choice, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2010
At the Edge: Daring Acts in Desperate Times
© 2009 Larry Verstraete Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
ISBN -10 0-545-99790-9