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Reviews
“Educational,
factual, heart-wrenching, and a must read for students, parents,
health professionals, employers, insurance companies, and educators. Today
we are faced with current controversies regarding the life-altering and,
often times, life-taking consequences of chemical exposures. Most
physicians, employers, government agencies, parents and scientists doubt
that these invisible illnesses are physical in origin. Menace in the
Walls is so compelling that it has the ability to become the
paradigm shift to facilitate the change in consciousness as to how these
toxic substances are viewed and dealt with. As
a doctor specializing in chemically induced immune system disorders,
author, and health researcher, I have never read a piece of material that
has the ability to be captivating for the reader, yet in the process,
“plant” the seed that will hopefully germinate into a greater
understanding of toxic dangers and possibility save many lives. Every person who plays any role in education, should be required to read this book.” Dr. Gloria Gilbčre, N.D., D. A. Hom., Ph.D. Author of “I was Poisoned by my body”, “Invisible Illnesses” and “Nature’s Prescription Milk" www.drgloriagilbere.com
Menace In The Walls, by N.L.
Eskeland, sets the stage for tragic and traumatic events with its
opening line: "'Let us through!' the medics pleaded ..."
Ms. Eskeland takes us right into the hospital where tragedy, along with
a good measure of high adventure, begin to play out. The mystery menace
captures the heart, mind and spirit of young Joshua Keegan, who along
with his little sister, become modern Sherlocks.
In reading Menace, not only have we
a page-turning mystery in hand—for students and adults—but also a
source of education. The menace, as in the case of so many adverse
events in life, can happen to you or your loved ones. Read Menace In
The Walls and be entertained, informed, and learn of some solutions
to the threatening danger. What more could one ask for in a book? Barbara
Wilkie, President, Environmental Health Network
'Menace in the
Walls' by Dr. N. L. Eskeland is a short novel dealing with the adventures of
a 13-year old boy Joshua Keegan and his young sister Kelley. Based on a
real-life incident but not sacrificing the thrills of a mystery novel, the
book manages the double duty of entertaining and educating the young
reader in Science and Scientific Investigation.
SMART, FUN
READ FOR BUDDING SCIENTISTS
"N.
L.
Eskeland masterfully weaves the high tension energy of a mystery into
the marvelous world of molds and molecules. This engaging tale creates
a thirst for further scientific study in all who read it!" Lynn
Westphal, 5th Grade Teacher at SFC in Solana Beach, CA.
Book
opens with a raging flood, 13- year- old Joshua Keegan has
Menace in the
Walls in the first Joshua Keegan solves the mystery story and it could be
the first of many. This new teenage mystery solver has a lot going for him
and a lot of help from his little sister. Their teaming up together
to solve mysteries will be a big hit with the early teenagers. Author
Eskeland did a great job showing the “brother-sister” relationship
that all teenagers experience, but she also showed how they can pull
together and solve a crime. Menace in the Walls is based on a true story
about a mysterious mold that hit the
Memo to guys: Smart is cool. Also, be nice to your sister. Those are two important lessons, refreshingly not delivered with a cafeteria lady’s heavy hand, in N.L. Eskeland’s “Erin Brockovich meets Michael Crichton” thriller for the preteen set, Menace in the Walls, a fictional account of a true and controversial medical horror story from the 1990s. While we’re all panicking about the flu, mad cow disease, and so forth, we’d do well to learn from history, especially when it is well and wisely written with a deft touch that proves children’s books aren’t just for kids anymore. Not only that, our future generations are brighter, less video-game-addicted, and more inclined to listen to their parents than the latest pop star (parents really are the anti-drug!). In addition, today’s kids have a powerful sense of right and wrong. The “wrong” portrayed in Menace in the Walls is corporate greed and research funding versus the lives of innocent children. Moreover, we would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids! The meddling kids in question are the Harry Potter-looking bespectacled Joshua Keegan and his firecracker younger sister Kelley. To Joshua, Kelly is particularly meddlesome. However, investigating children’s deaths from lung hemorrhage linked to the mysterious mold Stachybotrys has a way of bringing siblings together, especially when Joshua and Kelley find their lives in danger. After Joshua’s strong, intelligent doctor mother gets him a job at a lab run by her sinister colleague Doctor Channing, Joshua, in the tradition of nosy kids, starts poking in the computer files and braves secondhand smoke to visit one of the bereaved relatives of several children taken mysteriously ill with the same ailment (the revelation that smoking can aggravate the children’s condition is a gentle, subtle message). When Kelley accidentally puts Joshua at risk through sibling rivalry, the two must team up to unravel the case. It is not a “kids versus adults” story either: Joshua’s parents, as well as a kindly researcher named Dr. Tang, prove to be great allies and protectors. In this moral, faith-filled, intelligent page-turner, Eskeland makes science cool again. Kristin Johnson- MyShelf.com
Menace in the Walls book was interesting and would hold the interest of young people. I don't think the book was overly "scary" about mold, but made it clear that some molds are more dangerous than others in that they are linked to health effects. The main character and his sister were believable and well developed. The setting and the periphery characters were also believable and well developed. Overall the book was an enjoyable read. There was an educational component to the book which I think makes it a worthwhile read for young people. I would certainly recommend the book. Cheryl L. Gainer, MSN, CNM, RN- Regional Asthma Coordinator, US EPA Region 6, Dallas, TX
Joshua Keegan is very eager to work in a hospital, and he jumps at the offer to work in Dr. Channing's lab for the summer. Prior to starting his job in the lab, he helped his mother one night during a terrible storm and was surprised to see that several children were being brought to the emergency room with the same symptoms: nosebleeds, coughing, congestion, and X-Rays that reveal damaged lungs. As Joshua begins his job in the lab, part of his duties involve entering patient information into the computer. As he's doing so, he notices that eight children, all under the age of four months, and all from the same area that experienced the flooding during the storm, have large X's over their data. Finding this odd, he prints out the information. Later he learns that his favorite horse died - from mold that it ate in its hay. Doing some quick research on the internet, he discovers a disturbing link between the infants that were brought in during the storm and his horse's death. Thus begins the intrigue, and the mystery that Joshua sets out to solve. And it is an exciting, page-turning story that I found most enjoyable. Along the way he finds unexpected help from a school jock and, perhaps even more surprising, his younger sister, whom he thought of as a nuisance in the beginning of the book. Working together, they work better than working alone. Joshua's character in particular was very impressively fleshed out for such a relatively short book. With the exception of one "villain", in fact, there really weren't any typical caricatures that you expect to see in children's books. These were all very real characters. But I think my favorite part of the book was learning about micropipette tips and autoclaving. Reading without learning, regardless of how exciting the story (and this is an exciting story) is like eating mashed potatoes without salt and butter, or gravy, or whatever you like to put on them. It's just not the same. Top
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