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Between Heaven and Earth

Eric Walters - Author

This is an adventure about a grandson’s attempt to honour his grandfather while climbing Kilimanjaro. The journey challenges DJ’s belief that talent and determination will make everything easy.

More about this book

DJ is David McLean's eldest grandson, so it stands to reason that he be the one to scatter his beloved grandfather's ashes. At least that's how DJ sees it. He's always been the best at everything--sports, school, looking after his fatherless family--so climbing Kilimanjaro is just another thing he'll accomplish almost effortlessly. Or so he thinks, until he arrives in Tanzania and everything starts to go wrong. He's detained at immigration, he gets robbed, his climbing group includes an old lady and he gets stuck with the first ever female porter. Forced to go polepole (slowly), DJ finds out the hard way that youth, fitness level and drive have nothing to do with success on the mountain--or in life. DJ's adventures start in Jungle Land, part of The Seven Prequels and continue in Sleeper, part of The Seven Sequels.

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Book Analysis

At a Glance

Discover

Perseverance· ExplainedAdaptability· ExplainedAchievement· Explained

Consider

Violence and harmGrief and lossViolence

Personalised Fit

Beyond the Cover

perseveranceadaptabilityachievement

Fiction

Themes in Context

Changing ideas of success

DJ expects his athletic ability and drive to make the climb straightforward; setbacks and the required slower pace challenge that expectation.Exploratory / explanatory

How the book presents it: The plot frames success as something not guaranteed by youth, fitness or determination alone, and connects DJ’s journey with learning to adjust.

Talk about: Which experiences, if any, help DJ rethink what success means?

Why It May Be Worth Reading

The story may suit readers interested in adventure and personal change: DJ has to adapt to a slower pace and to people who do not match his expectations of who can climb.

What Deserves Attention

A robbery and immigration detention are among DJ’s setbacks.

A Conversation Worth Having

If DJ’s ideas about success change, what experiences seem to influence him, and does he come to value anything beyond individual achievement?

Reading Approach

You could read together in short stretches and pause to track how DJ responds when plans go wrong. This offers a way to follow his changing expectations without needing to settle in advance what the ending means.

Confidence & Basis

Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.

What remains unconfirmed

Changing ideas of success: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.

Between Heaven and Earth - Eric Walters - Google Books

Limited information

Checked: 1 October 2026.

Relevant to: Changing ideas of success

Between Heaven and Earth by Eric Walters | Open Library