The first of April is April Fool’s Day. Look at a book which asks, “Who is the wise man, and who is the fool?”

Egan is going to visit his aunt and uncle in the tiny village of Instep, at the foot of the modest little mountain called Kneeknock Rise.  There are a few other small mountains all clustered together, in the center of a very flat plain. Kneeknock Rise is the only one with a little bit of a cliff, and a cloud on top, which never disappears.  And it has a monster, way up there.

The book, Kneeknock Rise, is by that master storyteller, Natalie Babbitt. It is a Newbury Honor Book.  She also wrote Tuck Everlastingand a few other good ones. See her book in the Children’s Department of Pine Bush Area Public Library.

Egan is a young boy, and he is looking forward to the Instep Fair. It’s held once a year, and it attracts people anxious to hear the moans of the Megrimum, the monster on top of the mountain. It moans in a heart-rending way whenever there are storms.  People SAY that they have never climbed the mountain to find out what really is up there. But sometimes people disappear, like Egan’s Uncle Ott, who was staying with Aunt Gertrude and Uncle Anson. The funny thing is, Uncle Ott left his dog.  Annabelle the dog misses him.

 At the end of the fair, Egan is teased by his cousin Ada past all endurance, and Egan climbs the mountain and takes Annabelle with him! What does he find on the top of the mountain?  Would it be fair to say?

Part of the book is about people being happy with what they have—a monster on top of a mountain. They like the importance it gives them.  The book is about belief systems, or complacency or feeling smug.  Aunt Gertrude likes to be nervous, and likes to think that the Megrimum might come down the mountain and threaten them. 

Gertrude says, “We’re all nervous. It’s living so near to the Rise that does it.” “Why doesn’t everyone move away?” asks Egan. Aunt Gertrude looks shocked. “What an idea!”

Meanwhile, Uncle Ott has left behind some poems, asking “Who is the wise man and who is the fool?”  Read Kneeknock Rise and find out.