Winners! (Paperback)

With my right foot jammed into a thin crevice, my left foot barely on a small ridge of rock, I pressed my left cheek against the cliff. My left arm stretched up and by my fingers I clung to another narrow ridge. Sweat trickled down my back. "Look for your next foothold, Jeremy," Nick said, "about a foot this way and two feet up. And don't forget to chalk your fingers. You have to keep your fingers dry. I don't want to pick you up down there." I didn't look down; it was almost thirty feet to the bottom. I scarcely dared to breathe. Those words are the beginning of Nick and Jeremy's first Alaska adventure story. All 18 stories were originally published in issues of Crusader magazine, since renamed Cadet Quest, from 2000 through 2003. The stories were written to help boys in Cadet Clubs become "Winners" in their Christian lives. The stories are in three sets of six. "Winning Ways," from Jeremy's viewpoint, includes rock climbing and skiing adventures. "Cadet Struggles," from Nick's viewpoint, relates tales of jealousy and rivalry about friends during hiking, camping, and other outings. "Keep Whistling," also from Nick's viewpoint, has uniquely Alaskan adventures: moose troubles, caribou hunting, snow mobiling, and more. All locations in the stories are real places in Alaska. Author Douglas DeVries feels God prepared him to become a writer. In the early 1980s he took a course from the Institute of Children's Literature, but as a Christian School teacher-administrator he found little time for writing. God slowed DeVries down through heart surgery in 1987, and he began his new career, writing. He has authored nine books and more than 100 short stories. He writes from his apartment inAnchorage, Alaska.