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Survival and Adventure Stories (Kids)

Looking for an adventure or a survival story? Check out these books for kids!

The blackbird girls by Anne Blankman

"On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person. Oksana must face the lies her parents told her all her life. Valentina must keep her grandmother's secret, one that could put all their lives in danger. and both of them discover something they've wished for: a best friend. But how far would you go to save your best friend's life? Would you risk your own? Told in alternating perspectives among three girls--Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941--this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship."--

Brother's keeper by Julie (Children's fiction writer) Lee

Twelve-year-old Sora and her eight-year-old brother, Youngsoo, must try to escape North Korea's oppressive Communist regime on their own in 1950. Includes historical notes, photographs of the author's mother, glossary of Korean words, and timeline.

The canyon's edge by Dusti Bowling

A year after the death of her mother in a restaurant shooting, Nora is left struggling to stay alive when a climbing trip with her father goes terribly wrong

The disaster days by Rebecca Behrens

Thirteen-year-old Hannah's first real babysitting job turns into a nightmare when a major earthquake knocks out power and phones, cuts off the island, and leaves her stranded with two children.

Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood

In 1940, a group of British children, their escorts, and some sailors struggle to survive in a lifeboat when the ship taking them to safety in Canada is torpedoed. Includes historical notes

Overboard! by Terry Lynn Johnson

Eleven-year-old Travis and twelve-year-old Stacey, separated from their families after being thrown into the Atlantic off the coast of Washington, battle hypothermia as they struggle to survive. Includes Coast Guard-approved cold-water survival tips

Squirm by Carl Hiaasen

Billy Dickens discovers that his mysterious father lives in Montana, so this summer Billy will fly across the country, hike a mountain, float a river, dodge a grizzly bear, shoot down a spy drone, and save his own father.

A talent for trouble by Natasha Farrant

Eleven-year-old Alice Mistlethwaite persuades her boarding school friends, Jesse and Fergus, to set out on an off-the-grid adventure in which they face storms, illness, injury, and international jewel thieves.

The Titanic by Katrina Charman

"A stowaway dog and the captain's cat forge an unlikely friendship as they race to protect three kittens, help their humans, and survive the sinking of the Titanic."

A whale of the wild by Rosanne Parry

"For [the killer whale] Vega and her family, salmon is life. And Vega is learning to be a salmon finder, preparing for the day when she will be her family's matriarch. But then she and her brother Deneb are separated from their pod when a devastating earthquake and tsunami render the seascape unrecognizable. Vega must use every skill she has to lead her brother back to their family. The young orcas face a shark attack, hunger, the deep ocean, and polluted waters on their journey. Will Vega become the leader she's destined to be?"--Publisher's description

Zane and the hurricane : a story of Katrina by W Philbrick

A twelve-year-old boy and his dog become trapped in New Orleans during the horrors of Hurricane Katrina

Storm blown by Nick Courage

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Alejandro worries about his great-uncle while helping guests at a resort, and in New Orleans, Emily worries about her sick brother, as a major hurricane rages, changing both their lives forever.

Stranded by Jeff Probst

Jane, Buzz, Carter, and Vanessa, aged nine to thirteen, are on a sailing trip in the South Pacific intended to help them bond in their newly-blended family when a massive storm strands them on a deserted island

Alone in the woods by Rebecca Behrens

Rising eighth-graders Jocelyn and Alex, former best friends forced together on a family vacation, must cooperate to survive when they get lost in the Wisconsin Northwoods. Told in two voices.

The wild robot by Peter Brown

Roz the robot discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island with no memory of where she is from or why she is there, and her only hope of survival is to try to learn about her new environment from the island's hostile inhabitants.

Red Fox Road by Frances Greenslade

Francie and her parents are on a spring road trip: driving from British Columbia, Canada, to hike in the Grand Canyon. When a shortcut leads them down an old logging road, disaster strikes. Their truck hits a rock and wipes out the oil pan. They are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Francie can't help feeling a little excited -- she'd often imagined how she'd survive if she got stranded in the bush, and now here they are. But will her survival skills -- building fires, gathering dandelion leaves and fir needles for tea -- be enough when hours stretch into days?

Horizon by Scott Westerfeld

When Aero Horizon 16 crashes in the Arctic, eight children emerge from the wreckage to find themselves alone and surrounded, not by ice, but by a mysterious and deadly jungle full of carnivorous plants and predatory birds--the other five hundred people from the plane are gone, not necessarily dead, but taken by something that lives in the jungle

Survival in the wilderness by Steven Otfinoski

"In December 1920, three US Navy officials boarded a hot air balloon for a routine training flight, but end up stranded in the Canadian wilderness"--

My survival : a girl on Schindler's list by Rena Finder

"The astonishing true story of a girl who survived the Holocaust thanks to Oskar Schindler, of Schindler's List fame. Rena Finder was only eleven when the Nazis forced her and her family -- along with all the other Jewish families -- into the ghetto in Krakow, Poland. Rena worked as a slave laborer with scarcely any food and watched as friends and family were sent away. Then Rena and her mother ended up working for Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who employed Jewish prisoners in his factory and keptthem fed and healthy. But Rena's nightmares were not over. She and her mother were deported to the concentration camp Auschwitz. With great cunning, it was Schindler who set out to help them escape. Here in her own words is Rena's gripping story of survival, perseverance, tragedy, and hope. Including pictures from Rena's personal collection and from the time period, this unforgettable memoir introduces young readers to an astounding and necessary piece of history"--

Daisy and the deadly flu : a 1918 influenza survival story by Julie Gilbert

Fourteen-year-old Daisy Meyer is angry and frustrated with her world: her German American town, New Ulm, is under surveillance, her father's newspaper was forced to shut down for criticizing the United States' entry into World War I, her beloved older sister Elsie's fiancae is deployed to France, and she deeply resents her stepmother--but worse is coming, because this is October 1918, and influenza is about to descend on her home and family, and it is not certain who will survive.

I survived the California wildfires, 2018 by Lauren Tarshis

Traces the story of a boy who moves across the country to rural northern California, where his efforts to adjust are challenged by a fast-moving firestorm that places family homes and lives at risk

Titanic by Bill H Doyle

Choose a path and see if you can survive the RMS Titanic's fateful voyage.

Judy, prisoner of war by Laurie Calkhoven

Born in Shanghai, China, in 1936, Judy is an English pointer who finds her place on a English gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River, battling pirates, contending with the Japanese occupiers, and protecting her human shipmates--until they all end up in a Japanese prison camp in Sumatra at the beginning of World War II, where every day is a struggle to survive.

Recipient of the National Medal, the nation's highest honor for libraries.