Books about surviving in the wilderness have been classic reads for generations of children. I remember reading Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and more in elementary school. Here’s a list of survival stories to read if you grew up loving these tales of endurance or want to live vicariously through someone else’s harrowing adventure.
Middle Grade Fiction
- Refugee 87 by Ele Fountain
- Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Falcon Wild by Terry Lynn Johnson
- Hideout by Watt Key
- A World Below by Wesley King
- The Skeleton Tree by Iain Lawrence
- Swallow’s Dance by Wendy Orr
- Stranded by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts
- The Explorer by Katherine Rundell
- The Trap by John Smelcer
- I Survived the Children’s Blizzard, 1888 by Lauren Tarshis
- Memory Boy by Will Weaver
- Horizon by Scott Westerfeld
Young Adult Fiction
- Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
- The Raft by S.A. Bodeen
- Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter
- The Goats by Brock Cole
- The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby
- When I Am Through With You by Stephanie Kuehn
- Notes from My Captivity by Kathy Parks
- Lost in a River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
- Switchback by Danika Stone
- A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor
Adult Fiction
- California by Edan Lepucki
- Lord Grizzly by Frederick Manfred
- The Revenant by Michael Punke
- Midnight Sun by Elwood Reid
- Winter World by A. G. Riddle
- The Martian by Andy Weir
Nonfiction
- Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi
- Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival by Yossi Ghinsberg
- The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Lost in the Wild by Cary J. Griffith
- Lost in the Amazon by Stephen Kirkpatrick
- Into the Wild by John Krakauer
- The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
-Emily
