Only 130 pages long, The Farthest-Away Mountain is not only enjoyable but magically written by Lynne Reid Banks, the same creative author who wrote The Indian in the Cupboard.  Though I have read both, I still couldn’t find the interest in The Indian in the Cupboard like I could in The Farthest-Away Mountain.  More magic, to me a much more interesting plot of where a young girl is called to the farthest-away mountain, seeming to be pulled there by some invisible force, having wanted to see the secrets of the mountain since she was only 10 years old.  The invisible force pulling so hard that she makes up her mind to leave home, a nice cottage where she lives with her family, the girl, named Dakin, now being 15 years old.  She wants more than anything to make her family proud and to help the villagers to stop fearing the witch that lives on the farthest-away mountain.

Along the way, she meets some very colorful and fascinating characters, which include an old frog, Old Croak, that is trapped in a well in the middle of a small cottage-type building that has no doors and the windows are glued shut by magic, the only way to enter being the chimney in the roof.  A little troll that is cursed to be made of brass and a statue during certain times of the day while alive during the latter part of the day.  She also befriends three gargoyles with some very interesting names, Og, Vog, and Zog, three gargoyle heads who are supposed to do the bidding of the evil witch who lives in the mountain but decides that it is more important to help Dakin than the witch.

The witch herself has cursed many and has laid a protective snow around the base of the mountain, the snow being of many different colors and each containing a different spell. An example of this is when she first reaches the snow; the first color she comes across is green.  When she touches it, green caterpillars that eats her knapsack, her food falling out and into some red snow, snow which is described to be as cold as dry ice.  But what will help her get through? A book; a simple poem book that she had packed in her knapsack, and the only thing she could salvage from the mess made by the caterpillars.

Of course, what is a good fantasy story without the other ghouls that follow behind the evil witch?  An ogre with only one thing on his mind, eating his victims and a huge ugly bird monster named Graw.  She has to use her smarts, her wits, and her strength to overcome each obstacle throw in her path but she does with the help of her poem book, her new friends, and her own courage.  She does defeat evil, returning peace to the mountain, the village below, and to those certain friends who had been cursed to be the troll, the frog, and the gargoyle heads.  A definite fun story time book.

This book is a great book, one of my all time favorite books and I still read it from time to time when I need something to perk me up or to calm the stress that rages within me.  The magic within the book seems to take me on the ride with Dakin, making me wish I could help when she faces an enemy or obstacle but only able to sit at the edge of my seat, rooting for her.  And yes even though I know what will happen, I still love reading as though I don’t know what to expect on the next page, which makes the book more memorable and more fun.  If you have yet to read this book, I do recommend reading it, even if it is considered a children’s book.  Out of five stars, I would give this book a million stars!

I think I’m going to have to check out her other book called The Fairy Rebel.  I have yet to read this and it sounds like something I would definitely enjoy since I love fairies.