Posts Tagged «survival»
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
by Linda Sue Park, 120 pages, Grades 5-8
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Salva is at school when they attack. The teacher sends the boys running out the back door and into the forest to get away from the invading rebel soldiers.
This is the beginning of Salva’s journey through southern Sudan into Ethiopia on the run from the war sweeping his country, and he is on his own; he was separated from his family when their village was attacked.
This novel is based on the true life of Salva Dut who now lives in the United States and has started an organization that digs wells to help people in the country where he grew up.
Tags: adventure, families, historical fiction, multicultural, realistic fiction, survival, war
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Sunday, September 4th, 2011
by Eoin Colfer, 412 pages, Grades 7-8
Conor Broekhart was born in the air. His parents took a ride in a hot air balloon at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair, and that is the moment Conor decided to arrive. It is no wonder he is determined to fly; he is a brilliant engineer from very young and is lucky enough to work with another brilliant man, Victor Vigny, advisor to the king. The king’s daughter admires Conor’s talent as well, and all seems to be perfect for the Broekhart family.
Unfortunately, his life takes a dramatic turn. The good king has placed his trust in the wrong man; one of his confidants, Marshall Bonvilain, kills the king and frames Conor for the murder! Conor is thrown into a high security prison on an island, and his parents believe him to be dead. He is subjected a brutal life in the prison, but also makes some allies that help him attempt to save the kingdom, and his family as well as seek revenge on the evil Bonvilain.
Connections: If you enjoy steam punk fiction, you might also like: Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, or Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas is the first novel about a man being mistakenly imprisoned and escaping to seek his revenge.
Click here to see if it’s available for check out.
Tags: adventure, fantasy, science fiction, steam punk, survival, suspense, Young Adult
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Sunday, May 1st, 2011
By Tom Birdseye, 135 pages Grades 5-8
Somehow… one thing led to another, and before Cat knew what what was going on, she and her cousin, Ty, were stuck in a winter storm on Storm Mountain… just like the one their fathers had died in two years before. Cat knew it was crazy when Ty showed up at their door and suggested they climb the mountain to spread their fathers’ ashes, but she didn’t think Ty was insane enough to take off on his own when she said she wouldn’t go. Challenge after challenge leave Cat wondering if her limited mountaineering skills can save them both.
Connections: For other high adventure mountaineering books, try reading Peak by Roland Smith, the Everest series by Gordon Korman, or Climb or Die by Edward Myers.
Tags: adventure, cousins, mountaineering, survival, suspense
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Thursday, April 21st, 2011
by James Dashner 374 pages, Grades 6-10
Tom wakes up in a box without windows or doors. He fumbles around and cannot find a way out until the top opens up and beyond the glare of the bright light he hears kids voices.
“Look at that shank.”
“How old is he?”
“Looks like a klunk in a T-shirt.” (p.3)
Tom cannot remember who he is or where he came from, but he is pulled up into the Glade by a bunch of other teenage boys. All the kids there arrived in about the same state: confused, some sense of the way things work, but no clear memories of the details of their lives before the dark box that delivered them.
The Glade is a bit like a working farm and a bit like a prison. Each of the teens has a job to keep the place functioning: cook, farmer, slopper, runner, etc., but there is no way out. They all believe their one hope to get home is to decipher the maze that surrounds the Glade, but the maze changes shape every night, and there are frightening things that roam its halls.
Connections: Those who enjoyed Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins or Unwind, by Neal Shusterman will like the Maze Runner too!
Tags: dystopian world, fantasy, running, survival, suspense, teens
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Friday, March 25th, 2011
by Wendelin Van Draanen, 336 pages, Grades 7 and up
“‘Fifty-five flat!’ Kyro shouts, ‘Fifty-five flat!’
It’s a new personal best for me.
A new record for the league.” (11)
At sixteen Jessica is on top of her game, about to take league, maybe even go to state, when the track team’s bus is hit by an out-of-control car. One of the team loses her life, and Jessica’s right leg is crushed.
Jessica is a runner; running is not just something she likes to do, it is woven into her identity, so the accident takes more than her leg, it makes her question who she is.
Personal strength, friendship, family, and courage pull Jessica forward on her journey to discover who she is and who she can become. It is as inspirational a journey as the many true journeys of people in similar situations.
The following is a link to a TED talk with Aimee Mullens, also a runner, called “Aimee Mullans and Her 12 Pair of Legs.” http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html
Tags: differently-able, families, friendship, girls, identity, realistic fiction, self-realization, survival, teenagers
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Monday, November 29th, 2010
By Neil Shusterman, 335 pages. Grades 7-9
It is the future, and if you are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen you worry every day about becoming an “unwind.”
When no one won the terrible civil war between the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life groups there was a compromise. It was decided that all babies would be born, that children would be untouchable from birth to 13, and that between 13 and 18 any child could be unwound. Every single body part goes on living in another body, so it is not considered death. The unwound teen continues to live in different places.
In this version of the future there are no doctors, only surgeons. There is a transplanting process that works so well, people just replace parts that are damaged or diseased instead of trying to cure them. The technology is great for people who lose a limb, but you can also “correct” things like baldness with a transplanted scalp full of hair, or replace your crooked teeth with a brand new set.
Connor is trouble, and his parents have had enough. Risa has no parents, and the state homes need to make space for the new babies being “storked,” left on their doorstep. Lev is a “tithe;” he has been raised since birth to be unwound as a sacrifice to god. “Unwinds” are outcasts whom no one wants to help, so how can they escape their fate?
Connections: For other survival stories full of adventure try: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, or Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. Another edgy science fiction adventure is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
Tags: coming of age, creepy, family problems, identity, science fiction, survival, suspense
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Sunday, November 28th, 2010
By Lynne Rae Perkins, 352 pages Grades 7 Up
Do you believe in Murphy’s Law? Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Fifteen year-old Ry seems to be living Murphy’s Law, starting with his train to camp pulling away as he stands at the top of a nearby hill in the middle of nowhere Montana, trying to get cell phone reception. The next thing you know, Ry is on a cross-country road trip trying to get home, and each of his missteps leads to a new adventure in this humorous and absurd quest.
Connections: If you enjoy the combination of adventure and humor, you might try reading The Adventures of the Blue Avenger by Norma Howe, The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater, Backwater by Joan Bauer, or Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen.
Tags: accidents, adventure, humor, luck, quest, survival
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Monday, October 25th, 2010
By Julie Bertagna, 345 pages Grades 7 and up
Sometime in the not-to-distant future, the world as we know it has mostly drowned under the rising ocean from the melting ice caps. Fifteen year-old Mara’s island home is just about to disappear under the waves when her vision of sky cities prompts the village to sail off on dangerous seas in search of a safe haven. When they reach the high-tech city, they find that they and the thousands of other refugees aren’t welcome. Instead, they must fight for their lives and for scraps from the city in the sky.
Connections: For another story of a society threatened by global warming, try reading First Light by Rebecca Stead or read the sequel to Exodus called Zenith. To read about the author’s inspiration for the story, check out her website.
Tags: altruism, coming of age, floods, friendship, global warming, journeys, leadership, science fiction, survival, voyages and travels
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Monday, October 11th, 2010
by Leslie Connor, 330 pages – Grades 5-8
A sudden oil crisis leaves Dewey and his older sister to run the family’s bike shop and care for their younger siblings while their parents are stranded up north. The crunch has made the bike shop incredibly busy, and to make matters worse, a thief is stealing precious precious parts, but Dewey has a plan to identify the culprit.
Connections: Check out the author’s website. If you like mysteries with an environmental theme, try reading Gloria Shurzynski’s National Park series.
Tags: bicycles, brothers and sisters, coming of age, energy conservation, family problems, green team, oil crisis, self-reliance, speculative fiction, survival
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Friday, September 24th, 2010
By Margarita Engle, Art by Sean Qualls p. 183 – Grades 7-12 – biography
Trapped as a slave in a wealthy home in Cuba, Juan Francisco Manzano lived his life in fear of the cruel punishments of his masters. This sad and harrowing story was uncovered because the young slave, Manzano, wrote vivid poetry that describes his time as a slave. In Cuba poetry is like television; many people perform poetry for others and stories are often carried across the country because people repeat the poems they have heard. It is for this reason that the author, Margarita Engle, was inspired to write this biography in verse, paying tribute to Manzano’s work. While enslaved Manzano could not stop creating poems in his head; sometimes his owners praised him for his creativity and other times he was severely punished. The poems were part of Manzano and came to him as naturally as breathing; no punishment, no matter how harsh, could stop him from being himself.
Connections: For other serious stories in verse try Aleutian Sparrow or Out of the Dust, both by Karen Hesse. For stories about people escaping oppression try 5,000 Miles to Freedom: Ellen and William Craft’s Flight From Slavery, by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin, or The Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi.
Tags: biography, identity, nonfiction, poet, poetry, race relations, sad stories, slavery, survival
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Friday, September 24th, 2010
By Lian Hearn, p. 305 – adventure
Takeo has never known his father, who died many years before, and he has been growing up in a remote and peaceful Japanese village surrounded by the rest of his loving family. The rest of Japan is not so; it is a time of warlords, and secret societies in the middle ages, and Takeo’s home is attacked and destroyed by a warlord named Iida who is threatening to take over the whole country. When Takeo returns from a walk in the woods and sees his village burning, something inside him takes over. He scares the warlord’s horse and causes Iida to fall to the ground. Understanding his fatal blunder, he runs back into the woods chased by the warlord’s soldiers. They all run into a man on horseback who fights for Takeo, cutting off the arm of one of Iida’s best warriors. This mysterious man turns out to be a lord of the Otori clan, another of the powerful families of Japan.
Takeo’s life changes completely from this day forward. He is adopted by the Otori and he discovers his father was a famous assassin. He also finds out his real heritage is the Tribe, a kind of secret ninja society; he possesses some of the Tribe’s extraordinary abilities. He can hear details across a crowded courtyard, or through a wooden door, he can make himself “go invisible” and become as silent as a ghost.
In these turbulent times, talents like these are desired by many, and Takeo finds himself pulled in different directions, but he is determined to complete the final task for his adopted father: kill Iida, the same lord who burned his village and killed his family. The trouble is the only way to reach the warlord in his palace is to cross the nightingale floor, a huge room covered in a floor that sings whenever anyone touches it. How can he cross the nightingale floor and avenge his family?
Connections: For other stories taking place in medieval Japan try The Samurai’s Tale, by Erik Christian Haugaard, or The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass: A Samurai Mystery, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.
Tags: adventure, coming of age, families, fantasy, historical fiction, identity, love stories, orphans, outsiders, survival, teenagers, teens
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Friday, September 24th, 2010
By Michael Scott – p. 375 – Grade 6-9 – fantasy
Michael Scott is a professor of mythology and was inspired by the TRUE story of Nicholas Flamel. He was actually a real person! He was born in Paris on September 28, 1330, and buried 1418, but the tomb is empty! Thus begins the myth, or history, of the alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel, immortal and still alive in today?
The Alchemyst begins in modern day New York City; teenage twins Sophie and Josh have moved there for the summer. The brother works in a bookstore for Nick Flemming (name sound familiar?) and the sister works at a cafe across the street. Right away the bookstore is blown up by mud people and a menacing character named Dr. John Dee. When Dee and his muddy henchmen storm into the bookstore, Josh is watching from a hiding place. Dee grabs Flamel’s wife, Perry, and almost makes off with the most powerful book of magic, but Josh manages to grab a few key pages before he and Mr. Flemming have to escape the explosion. Flamel believes Josh and Sophie might be the twins of the prophecy, so he wants to keep them close in the hopes of finding his precious wife and the stopping Dee from destroying the world as we know it. From the moment the bookstore explodes Josh and Sophie are on a roller coaster adventure, full of magical, mythical creatures and frightening beasts. Sequels The Magician and The Sorceress continue the perilous adventure.
Connections: Other adventure fantasies The Lightning Thief series, by Rick Riordan, Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, The Alchemist’s Cat, by Robin Jarvis
Tags: Add new tag, adventure, brothers and sisters, fantasy, heroes, mystery, mythology, survival, suspense, teenagers, teens
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Saturday, January 30th, 2010
By Eve Yohalem 220 pages Grades 5-8
Wouldn’t it be exciting to be the daughter of American ambassador to Ethiopia? Thirteen year-old Lucy Hoffman dreams of staying out overnight in the bush watching the animals or just visiting the marketplace and exploring with friends, but instead she spends her days at school or stuck inside their home within their walled community in the capital city of Addis Ababa. When she and a friend sneak out and go to the city, Lucy is kidnapped. When it looks like rescue isn’t coming, she has to decide whether escaping into the Ethiopian bush is going to improve her odds of survival.
Connection: For other survival tales set in Ethiopia, try reading The Return by Sonia Levitin or The Storyteller’s Beads by Jane Kurtz. To read about Eve Yohalem’s inspiration for writing this book, check out her website.
Tags: adventure, Ethiopia, Eve Yohalem, kidnapping, lions, mothers and daughters, survival
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Saturday, January 30th, 2010
By Terry Pratchett 367 pages Grades 7-10
The tsunami seemingly washed away their distinctly different worlds and left them both stranded. After the wave, Mau returns by dugout canoe from his coming of age quest to his village (the Nation) gone, and the trail of destruction leads him to the grounded wreck of the Sweet Judy, the ship that was to bring Daphne from her home in Victorian England to join her father in the “South Pelagic.” With supplies from the wrecked ship and Mau’s knowledge of the land, the two start to rebuild the Nation as wounded survivors start arriving from other islands and as Daphne holds out hope that her father will come find her. Daphne (known as the ghost girl), with her curious customs, strange clothes and white skin, struggles to communicate and fit in with her new community while Mau, the very young chief of this new Nation, is called the demon boy for having no soul without the completion of his manhood ceremony. As this group struggles to survive, they live in fear of the inevitable arrival of the Raiders.
Connections: For other tales of shipwrecks or deserted island survival, try reading Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, Overboard by Elizabeth Fama or Seaborn by Craig Moodie. For more background on the book and the process of writing it, watch this video interview with the Terry Pratchett.
Tags: adventure, coming of age, outsiders, prejudices, race relations, survival, Terry Pratchett, tsunamis
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Monday, January 25th, 2010
by Elisa Carbone p. 224 Grades 5-8
Barely escaping the gallows in London, orphan Sam Collier finds himself the page to Captain John Smith and on his way to the New World to help settle the Jamestown colony. Smith believes the survival skills Sam has honed on the streets of London and even his violent temper will make him a successful settler in this challenging new frontier. Captain Smith faces challenges of his own. Although he has a good relationship with the Powhatan, the British aristocrats resent the leadership role he’s taken and do everything in their power to undermine and even arrest him. This is gripping historical fiction, based on primary source documents, that presents the Indian perspective as well as the colonial.
Connections: The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac, A Pickpocket’s Tale by Karen Schwabach, and The light in the Forest by Conrad Richter are other good novels about the Colonial Period in America.
Tags: adventure, American Indians, British colonies, Captain John Smith, Colonial America, Colonial Period, frontier and pioneer life, historical fiction, James Town, Jamestown, Native Americans, orphans, Pocahontas, Powhatan, survival, United States history
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Friday, October 16th, 2009
by Jeanne DuPrau p.270 Grades 5-8
What if the only light in your world came from an electric bulb? And what if your society was running out of those light bulbs? This is the situation that faces twelve-year-olds Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow. Lina discovers a set of instructions that she believes will help her people get out of Ember into a world of light. Unfortunately, her baby sister has chewed on the paper and only certain words are readable. Will they provide enough clues for Lina and Doon to find the escape route through the underground pipeworks. And why are the city officials trying to arrest them?
Connections: The Books of Ember series also includes People of Sparks, Prophet of Yonwood and The Diamond of Darkhold.
Tags: adventure, future, science fiction, series, survival
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Monday, July 20th, 2009
by Kathi Appelt p. 313 Grades 6-8
This amazing book has it all–chills, thrills, tears, fears; strangers and dangers; monsters and heroes; prehistoric and modern times; dogs and cats, love and hate; cruelty and compassion; animals and humans; magic and realism, shape-shifters and kittens; revenge and redemption; loneliness and friendship. This strange and magical story begins in a Texas bayou when a calico cat about to have kittens hears the lonely howls of a chained up dog. She and her kittens take up residence with him underneath the shack where the hound’s cruel master, Gar Face, has chained him. They are safe until one of the kittens ventures out from the underneath and is caught by Gar-Face.
Connections: If you like sad animal stories, try these titles: Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, Sounder by William Armstrong, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien, and Watership Down by Richard Adams are other wonderful fantasies where animals form communities to help each other.
Tags: adventure, animals, bayous, cats, compassion, dogs, fantasy, friendship, kittens, loneliness, magical realism, sad stories, shape-shifters, snakes, survival
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Monday, June 15th, 2009
By Joseph Monninger, p. 156 – Grades 7-10.
Independent, free-spirited Lolly runs into serious trouble when she takes her little sailboat out one evening in the Florida Keys. Her boat capsizes, and as the sun sets, she realizes that no one knows where she is and that her chances of survival are slim. Terrified of sharks, she nearly freaks out when something smooth and large bumps up against her legs. It turns out to be a manatee. Clinging to its back, Lolly travels with the manatee and its companions to a mangrove swamp.
Connection: Other novels about special human-animal relationships include The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse, Incident at Hawk’s Hill by Allen Eckert, and Eva by Peter Dickison.
Tags: adventure, Everglades, Florida Keys, Joseph Monninger, manatees, sailing, shipwrecks, survival
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Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
by Suzanne Collins, p. 374 – Grades 7 & Up
In this book, for mature readers, what was once the United States is destroyed by climate change and war and is replaced by Panem with its wealthy rulers in the Capitol controlling twelve neighboring districts. Each year the districts must pay tribute to the Capitol by sending two of their teens (12-18) to fight to the death in the Hunger Games, which is televised and must be watched by everyone (think Survivor with weapons and a manipulated environment). Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her younger sister as the tribute from District 12 (the poorest district) when her sister’s name is pulled in the lottery for the 74th Hunger Games. Since her father’s death in a mining accident, Katniss has had to work hard so she and her family could survive, but in the Hunger Games she will be facing tributes who have spent their lives training for this event.
Connection: Other examples of survival fiction that will keep the reader on edge are Deathwatch by Robb White and The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. –CRW
Highlight: Watch this video interview with Suzanne Collins.
Tags: contests, interpersonal relations, love stories, loyalty, science fiction, survival, suspense, Suzanne Collins, television programs, Young Adult
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Saturday, April 25th, 2009
by Craig Moodie, p.201 – Grades 6-9
Sixteen-year-old Luke would rather stay home and fish than go on the annual trip with his family on their small, cramped sailboat. Luke decides he has no choice but to go when his mother walks out out on them. The two decide to explore the Gulf Stream rather than sticking to the islands off the coast of Massachussetts and run into trouble when an unexpected storm blows in.
Connection: This quick read is a good choice for fans of Gordon Korman’s Dive, Everest & Island series. –CRW
Tags: adventure, Craig Moodie, family problems, fathers and sons, sailing, shipwrecks, survival, teens
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by Linda Sue Park, 120 pages, Grades 5-8