Survival
Readers learn about dramatic events that have led people to struggle to stay alive, protect their loved ones, and to maintain a sense of normality in their lives. Some of the stories take place in deserted areas, where individuals have to rely on their resourcefulness to find food and shelter.
A Single Shard
Tree-ear is an orphan who lives under a bridge. He wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and dreams of making a pot of his own someday.
Call of the Wild/White Fang
The story opens at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska.
Children of the River
At thirteen, Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army, leaving her parents, two siblings and the boy she has loved since childhood behind.
Hatchet
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian survives 54 days in the wilderness, initially with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Kingcome’s younger generation is disenchanted and alienated from its heritage. And now, coming upriver is a young vicar, Mark Brian, on a journey of discovery that can teach him-and us- about life, death and the transforming power of love.
Island of the Blue Dolphins
This novel tells the tale of Karana, an Indian girl living on an island off the coast of California. As her tribe evacuates, she suddenly jumps off the ship when she realizes that her brother has been left behind.
Lord of the Flies
Stranded on an island when an atomic war destroys the rest of the world, a group of young boys revert to savagery as they struggle to survive.
Maniac Magee
Maniac is an "on-his-own" kid searching for a place that he can call home. When he sees no difference between the people of the East Side and the West Side, others begin to realize that Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee is truly the "stuff" from which legends are made.
Mud City
Parvana’s best friend, Shauzia, has escaped the misery of her life in Kabul, only to end up in a refugee camp in Pakistan.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Malawi was a land withered by drought and hunger and where modern science was a mystery. William read about windmills and dreamed about building one to bring electricity and water to his village.
The Cay
In 1942 an elderly black man and a young white boy are victims of a shipwreck and are stranded on a Caribbean island.
The Girl Who Owned a City
When a plague sweeps over the earth killing everyone except children under twelve, ten-year-old Lisa organizes a group to rebuild a new way of life.
The Lightning Thief
After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.
The Pearl
The intriguing story of a poor Mexican pearl diver who finds the largest pearl ever seen is a suspenseful reading experience.