FAR |
A Girl Named Disaster
(age 10+) by Nancy Farmer survival ... adventure Publisher comments: Eleven-year-old Nhamo lives in a traditional village in Mozambique, where she doesn't quite fit in. When her family tries to force her into marrying a cruel man, she runs away to Zimbabwe, hoping to find the father she's never met. But what should have been a short boat trip across the border turns into a dangerous year-long adventure, and Nhamo must summon her innermost courage to ensure her survival. |
SPI |
Milkweed: A Novel
(age 10+) by Jerry Spinelli bigotry ... war ... survival ... historical Publisher comments: He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Runt. Happy. Fast. Filthy son of Abraham. He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who steals food for himself and the other orphans. He's a boy who believes in bread, and mothers, and angels. He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi some day, with tall shiny jackboots and a gleaming Eagle hat of his own. Until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind. And when the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, he's a boy who realizes it's safest of all to be nobody. Jerry Spinelli takes us to one of the most devastating settings imaginable...Nazi-occupied Warsaw of World War II...and tells a tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival through the bright eyes of a young orphan. |
GEO |
The Talking Earth
(age 10+) by Jean Craighead George adventure ... survival ... folklore ... nature Billie Wind ventures out alone into the Florida Everglades to test the legends of her Indian ancestors and learns the importance of listening to the earth's vital messages. |
MOR |
Canyon Winter
(age 10+) by Walt Morey nature ... adventure ... action ... survival The private plane taking Peter to his wealthy father's ranch crashes in the Rockies, and its pilot is killed. Struggling to survive, and sure that no one will rescue him, Peter stumbles across rough and unforgiving Omar Pickett, who has lived in the mountains for years. Peter must rely on Omar--and learn to rely on himself. |
DEF |
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
(age 10+) by Daniel Defoe historical ... adventure ... survival This classic story of a shipwrecked mariner on a deserted island is perhaps the greatest adventure in all of English literature. Fleeing from pirates, Robinson Crusoe is swept ashore in a storm possessing only a knife, a box of tobacco, a pipe-and the will to survive. His is the saga of a man alone: a man who overcomes self-pity and despair to reconstruct his life; who painstakingly teaches himself how to fashion a pot, bake bread, build a canoe; and who, after twenty-four agonizing years of solitude, discovers a human footprint in the sand... Consistently popular since its first publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe's story of human endurance in an exotic, faraway land exerts a timeless appeal. |
UCH |
Journey to Topaz: a Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation
(age 10+) by Yoshiko Uchida identity ... survival ... bigotry ... historical After the Pearl Harbor attack, an eleven-year-old Japanese-American girl and her family are forced to go to an aliens camp in Utah. |
HOB |
Far North
(age 10+) by Will Hobbs adventure ... survival Fifteen-year-old Texan Gabe flies north into the wild subarctic of Canada to visit his dad who is working at a diamond mine. A tragic accident leaves Gabe and his roommate Raymond stranded in a remote region of Canada. Raymond is forced to recall the wilderness knowledge that he learned in his youth in order to survive, and Gabe must find the inner strength to save them both after Raymond is injured in an icefall. |
ADA |
Watership Down
(age 10+) by Richard Adams voyages/journeys ... survival ... adventure This stirring tale of adventure follows the journey of a group of brave creatures from their once-idyllic home to a place they hope will offer them a safer life. |
PAU |
Hatchet
(age 10+) by Gary Paulsen growing up ... survival ... adventure Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother has given him as a present ¿ and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart ever since his parents' divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self-pity, or despair ¿ it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive. sequel: The River sequel: Brian's Hunt |
PAU |
Tucket Adventures Series (age 10+) by Gary Paulsen historical ... adventure ... survival In the first book, Mr. Tucket, Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is heading west on the Oregon Trail with his family by wagon train. When he receives a rifle for his birthday, he is thrilled that he is being treated like an adult. But Francis lags behind to practice shooting and is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses, hostile tribes, and a mysterious one-armed mountain man named Mr. Grimes to help Francis become the man who will be called Mr. Tucket. title: Call Me Francis Tucket |
O'D |
Sarah Bishop
(age 10+) by Scott O'Dell war ... survival ... family ... historical Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother who take opposite sides in the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her, Sarah Bishop struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness. |
LEV |
Journey to America
(age 10+) by Sonia Levitin survival ... historical ... family A Jewish family fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 endures innumerable separations before they are once again united. |
LAW |
The Wreckers
(age 10+) by Iain Lawrence survival ... adventure In the first book of the High Seas Trilogy, a ship crashes upon the shore of the Isle of Skye. A 14-year-old survivor must continue to fight for his life against the wreckers--a coastal community of murderous people who pillage shipwrecked vessels to feed and cloth themselves and decorate their homes. sequel: The Smugglers |
CUS |
Rodzina
(age 10+) by Karen Cushman identity ... survival ... historical ... family One of a group of orphans, 12-year-old Rodzina boards a train on a cold day in March 1881. She's reluctant to leave Chicago, the only home she can remember, and she knows there's no substitute for the family she has lost. As the train rattles westward, Rodzina unwittingly begins to develop attachments to her fellow travelers, and to accept the idea that there might be good homes for orphans--maybe even for a big, combative Polish girl. But no placement seems right for the formidable Rodzina, and she cleverly finds a way out of one bad situation after another, until at last she finds the family that is right for her. |
LOW |
Number the Stars
(age 10+) by Lois Lowry survival ... bigotry ... friendship ... historical In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis. |
GIF |
Nory Ryan's Song
(age 10+) by Patricia Reilly Giff survival ... historical ... adventure As the potato blight that leads to the Irish Famine takes its toll on her family, 12-year-old Nory Ryan must summon the courage and ingenuity to find food, to find hope, and to find a way to help her family survive. sequel: Maggie's Door |
GEO |
Julie of the Wolves
(age 10+) by Jean Craighead George identity ... survival ... nature ... adventure To her small Eskimo village, she is known as Miyax; to her friend in San Francisco, she is Julie. When her life in the village becomes dangerous, Miyax runs away, only to find herself lost in the Alaskan wilderness. |
DUP |
The Book of Ember Series (age 10+) by Jeanne Duprau survival ... action ... adventure ... fantasy ... science fiction Publisher comments: Built as an underground refuge for the human race, the city of Ember begins to deteriorate as its lights start to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever. title: The City of Ember title: The People of Sparks title: The Prophet of Yonwood title: The Diamond of Darkhold |