Survival books for kids?

quietmike

quietmike

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Nov 26, 2006
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I'm not really looking for technical type books, just novel or short story fictions written for a young reader (my son).

I remember reading the Hatchet series of books by Paulson and My Side of the Mountain when I was young and really liked them.

Can anyone reccommend more books like these?
 
You might want to check out:

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

Far North by Will Hobbs

Your son might also enjoy some of Jack London's stuff. Aside from the well known 'White Fang' or 'Call of the Wild' he also wrote many short stories.

I know you wrote you weren't really looking for technical type books but last week I picked up a book recommended by a friend of mine. It's called 'Camp Out: The Ultimate Kid's Guide' by Lynn Brunelle. It's really geared toward younger kids and my daughters (ages 6 & 8) loved it. It contains great information presented in a very accessible way.

I've found the first two I mentioned at local libraries. The other one I found at the local Barnes & Noble and it's also available on Amazon.

I'm also a huge fan of Gary Paulsen's 'Brian' books. ( Hatchet, The River, Brian's Winter, Brian's Return, and Brian's Hunt)I think every kid should read those.
 
Definitely "Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert Heinlein. Great book that inspired a lot of adventures in my youth. Knives are featured prominently in the book also. I've always thought it would make a great movie.

(of course I was also excited when I found out "Starship Troopers" was going to be made into a movie. It was also a great Heinlein book, but the movie was just the biggest pile of crap ever made. The director and everybody involved in that waste of film should have been sued by the Heinlein family.)
 
A great book about survival not in the all alone in the woods sense but farm survival and hard times is a book called "A Day No Pigs Would Die" I read this book when I was about in 4th-5th grade. I liked it alot. It is about a boy who raises a pet pig on a farm and grows really attached to it. The boy sort of humanizes the pig as many people do with their dog. The family hits really hard times and the boy must come to terms that for the family to survive the pig must sustain them. A coming to age type of book one that invokes sacrifice and hardship and love and value for life. But this is not an anti-anything book just a good piece of literature for any age to read. This was a banned book in some areas a good number of years ago--for ridiculous reasons as many banned books are. But my parents gave this book to me to read when I was younger and it has had a lasting quality with me. If I remember the author I will chime back in. Good luck.
 
lukus said:
Definitely "Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert Heinlein. Great book that inspired a lot of adventures in my youth. Knives are featured prominently in the book also. I've always thought it would make a great movie.

(of course I was also excited when I found out "Starship Troopers" was going to be made into a movie. It was also a great Heinlein book, but the movie was just the biggest pile of crap ever made. The director and everybody involved in that waste of film should have been sued by the Heinlein family.)
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I'm a big Heinlein fan and Tunnel in the Sky is one of my favorites as well.
I thought the movie version of Starship Troopers was tolerable but only just barely resembled the book.
If you think that one is bad then stay away from the Starship Troopers II, its a real stinker. It makes the first one look like an academy award winner in comparison!
 
A moldy oldie for sure, but try The Young Fur Traders by R.M. Ballantyne. It's available online through Gutenberg as well. Not 'hardcore survival' but growing up in the bush IIRC.

Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf is a good one as well.
 
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