I think I have a 'thing' for survival books, especially if they are a true story (although fiction is fine by me too!) Possibly it is because I am living in someone's house who has a great love of survival books so when I go to find something to read it's like choosing which 'boy becomes man' adventure novel that looks the coolest.Hatchet ---> I read this book in one evening plus one morning before getting out of bed, it was not only a easy read but the adventure was something difficult to put down. So engaging is the true story that you don't realize you are even hungry or have a life outside of reading this book... until the character is stranded after a plane crash and starts describing his hunger so thoroughly that my own stomach growled too.
One of the neatest things about Hatchet was the boy survives in ways I would not have even thought of, and for a 13 year old facing death he is pretty freaking crafty! I wondered if when I was 13 could I have survived something so incredible as to be months in the wilderness without so much as a pack of matches to start a fire? Not unless I was Snow White and coulda lured animals into my arms... even if I did watch tons of TV like the boy Brian in Hatchet did (which he uses to figure out ways to survive).
His survival and his quick learning of the forest is really impressive, most amazing is how intuitively he learns to understand the behaviors of the creatures around him (bears, wolves, moose, etc). Not to mention, his rescue rocks.
All these years later it looks as though Brian never fully meshed with normal society again (he was from New York City afterall, then was living like Tarzan all alone, I wouldn't mesh either)...
follow up books exist! See here.
Anyone have other suggestions for fun survival books? True or not. :)
XoXO00
