The recent wintry storms may have put you in the mood for some great survival tales. Check out these titles, and later this month I'll post some winter books for the fantasy and romance readers! For now, bundle yourself up and try not to shiver as you read one of these chilling tales.
Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen
Paulsen brings back his character Brian for another round of survival imagining “what if Brian was never rescued?” Now Brian has to fight the elemental forces of winter and nature to survive realizing that he hasn’t planned ahead and will need to discover new resources, new tools, and new skills.
The Trap by John Smelcer
Johnny Least-Weasel worries that his grandfather hasn't returned home from checking his trapline. The elderly Indian packed ample supplies onto his snowmobile, but has been out far too long in the plummeting temperatures of the Alaskan winter. Cultural pride and reluctance to disrespect an elder get in the way of search plans until Johnny's grandmother can wait no longer, and she sends him out to find her husband. Only readers know that Albert Least-Weasel has caught his leg in a trap, several feet away from his supplies, and is unable to free himself. Chapters alternate between Albert's dilemma and Johnny's failed attempts to raise concern among his uncles, creating a suspenseful page-turner in which the old man's survival becomes a race against time. Albert's wilderness skills are sharp and described in detail, such as fending off wolves with a spear made from a cedar branch and creating a rabbit snare from a shoelace.
Shackleton’s Stowaway by Victoria McKernan
On October 26, 1914, Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance set sail from Buenos Aires in pursuit of the last unclaimed prize in exploration: the crossing of the Antarctic continent. The crew stood on deck to watch the city fade away. All but one, 18-year-old Perce Blackborow hid below in a locker. But the thrill of stowing away with the legendary explorer would soon turn to fear. Within months, the Endurance, trapped and crushed by ice, sank. And even Perce, the youngest member of the stranded crew, knew there was no hope of rescue. If the men were to survive in the most hostile place on earth, they would have to do it on their own. A fictionalized account of the hard-to-fathom facts of this famous voyage create an epic, edge-of-your-seat survival novel.
Ice Drift Theodore Taylor
Taylor jumps headlong into this page-turning tale of survival set in the Arctic in 1868. Inuit brothers Alika, 14, and Sulu, 10, are seal hunting with their family's dog team when the ice shelf they are on is rammed by an iceberg and detached from their island. As the floe begins drifting south, the boys free all but one of the dogs to swim to the mainland and run home. Thus warned, their father attempts to find them but is unsuccessful. In the meantime, Alika builds an iglu and hunts. The boys fight the frigid weather, are menaced by a bear, and try to keep their spirits up while wondering if they will ever return home.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
To her small Eskimo village, she is known as Miyax; to her friend in San Francisco, she is Julie. When the village is no longer safe for her, Miyax runs away. But she soon finds herself lost in the Alaskan wilderness, without food, without even a compass to guide her. Slowly she is accepted by a pack of Arctic wolves, Mid she grows to love them as though they were family. With their help, and drawing on her father's teachings, Miyax struggles day by clay to survive. But the time comes when she must leave the wilderness and choose between the old ways and the new. Which will she choose? Is she Miyax of the Eskimo or Julie of the Wolves?
The White Darkness by McCaughrean
Sym is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. In fact, Oates is the secret confidant to whom she spills all her hopes and fears. But Sym's uncle Victor is even more obsessed—and when he takes her on a dream trip into the bleak Antarctic wilderness, it turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival that will challenge everything she knows and loves. In her first contemporary young adult novel, Geraldine McCaughrean delivers a spellbinding journey into the frozen heart of darkness.
Far North by Will Hobbs
When the engine of their float plane fails during a water landing near the head of Canada's monumental Virginia Falls, what began as a sightseeing detour turns into a survival mission for two high-school students and their elderly companion. With the brutal subarctic winter beginning, boarding-school roommates Gabe and Raymond along with Raymond's great-uncle, Johnny, are trapped in a deadly wilderness. Braving icy rapids and desperately hunting for moose in their struggle to fend off starvation, all three travelers must rely on the others' knowledge and courage, or survival is out of the question.
Post a comment if you've read any of these books or if you've read a different winter survival book that you want to share with other teens. Stay warm!
The Poison Apples by Lily Archer
Epic
Icing on the Lake
Adults have never really understood what exactly it is that teens want. Whether it’s that “strange” group of friends, “funky” hairstyle or fashion choice, or “teeth-grinding” music, adults certainly don't share common ground with adolescents when it comes to interests and tastes. Our dedicated library staff recognized these differences, and the David J’s Senior Advisory Board was born. 
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Bunker 10