The best books about young people overcoming obstacles to survive

This is a funny, entertaining novel about a teenage boy named Stanley who is sent to a boys' detention camp in the middle of nowhere for allegedly stealing an expensive pair of gym shoes. There he and the other boys spend every day digging holes in search of buried treasure the evil camp warden is trying to find. I love the absurdity of this situation as the camp is huge and their likelihood of finding anything of value is slim to none. Later, Stanley and a friend escape the camp and must survive in the wilderness without having brought food or water. Stanley and his family are subject to a family curse and the author does a great job gradually revealing what caused the curse and how things are made right in the end. 

This is a super-gripping novel that starts out with a young man named Brian on a small plane above the Canadian wilderness on the way to visit his father when the pilot has a heart attack. Brian has to crash land the plane in the wilderness and then survive on his own with only a hatchet to help him. I love survival stories and really enjoy reading about what people decide to do and what they think about to keep themselves alive until they are rescued. 

This is a great book about a young girl named Esperanza living a good life on a ranch in Mexico when she and her mother are forced to leave the country after family tragedy strikes. They go to the US during the Great Depression and have serious financial problems that they never had to deal with before. When she lived in Mexico, they had servants to do everything for them, so living in poverty in the US is a major adjustment. She doesn’t even know how to use a broom! This kind of detail makes for an interesting saga about a young lady overcoming obstacles to survive. 

I liked this book because it was true and written in the form of a diary. This format made it especially interesting to me because you got a good idea about Ann’s thoughts and feelings while living in Amsterdam during Nazi occupation in World War II. She tries hard to overcome all kinds of obstacles to survive such as by not leaving the hidden attic and remaining quiet during the day. In her case, she doesn’t survive but knowing that Ann dies in a concentration camp makes the content of the book especially poignant. 

This book captured me from start to finish. Like my book, this story is told in a gripping journal format. A meteor knocks the moon off its orbit and this causes catastrophic consequences on earth. Summer turns to a bitterly cold winter and Miranda and her two brothers and mother must figure out how they will survive in such harsh conditions. Having enough food to survive is a constant concern. This book helps us realize that when things get really awful, all that matters is food, water, staying warm, and remaining together as a family. All other concerns fall away.