Clouds on the Mountain

Christine Linge is a past director of the Toronto & District Parent
Co-operative Preschool Corporation and a freelance writer.

A family excitedly prepares to hike up a mountain, taking with them a
puppy and a picnic lunch. After a pleasant march through sun-warmed
fields, followed by vigorous climbing (disregarding the ominous arrival
of heavy black clouds), they reach their goal: a refreshing mountain
spring. Suddenly a violent storm erupts. The family struggles to descend
the mountain in the torrential downpour, first stopping to find the
puppy, then ferrying the children one by one across a newly formed
stream. The sun returns suddenly as they squish homeward through the
fields.

Mangos and avocados in the lunch, the name Axelito, and the author’s
residential history suggest that this story takes place in Central
America. Beyond this, Smith-Ayala declines to establish a cultural or
geographical milieu. Yet one character comments, as the storm subsides:
“Chac must have seen us and been sorry.” The careful reader who
noticed the couplet on the dedication page might identify the Mayan god
of rain and thunder. This attempt to illuminate human frailty against
the elements by drawing on the meso-American mythology of a capricious
weather god falls flat in a cultural vacuum.

Although Smith-Ayala’s prose is brisk and boasts some rich images,
the story does not engage the reader emotionally. Able to cope handily
in spite of their handicaps, this family is not in any real danger.
Merely inconvenienced, they emerge wet but enlightened about nature’s
vagaries. Fortunately, Priestley’s bright pencil-crayon drawings may
distract a young reader from these shortcomings. Recommended with
reservations.