Here are 100 books that A Long Walk to Water fans have personally recommended if you like
A Long Walk to Water.
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To this day, I love stories and books that bring a sense of nostalgia to my heart. As I read now, many of these bring me back to my youth and those early days when I really started to love reading. For the most part, books on this list are seen through the eyes of a middle-grade protagonist—stories of overcoming obstacles and finding family in unexpected places. And characters who overcome mistakes, ultimately lending a hand. I love kindness and empathy in these books, whether spread throughout the story or reaching those qualities by the end, more than anything.
I love this book because it’s one I can return to time and time again. The story was a favorite of mine as a youth and one I rediscovered as an adult, enjoying it all the same. There is a symbiosis of life and nature in this story, and the overcoming of obstacles, learning to survive, and finding balance are aspects that always bring a smile to my face when reading this book.
"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."-The New York Times Book Review
Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods-all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.
"An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after…
I have no wilderness survival skills and certainly no wish to be thrown into any of the scenarios in the books I’ve recommended. What I do have is great empathy for those who struggle to survive loss—in whatever form it might come—be it loss of home, or security, or family. I know what it is to struggle through darkness and survive what I would have previously thought “unsurvivable.” That’s why two of my middle grade books, but especially MacKenzie’s Last Run, are about speaking up when you’re hurting or frightened. Lost in the dark woods or lost in grief–it’s all ultimately about survival.
I confess, I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this novel. I began reading it primarily to see what was percolating in slightly younger middle grade titles and in particular in books that are rooted in stories about differently-abled characters. Was I ever delightfully surprised when I fell in love with Ellie! I thought the novel was going to be about a lot of mean treatment by kids at school, but in truth, there wasn’t nearly as much of that as I expected (which was an enormous relief!). If you’re thinking, wait, I thought this was going to be a novel about survival, I’m here to tell you that every single day in Ellie’s life is its own survival story.
Surviving being left out of nearly all the activities the rest of the kids find fun; surviving the humiliation of having an aide take her from class to class,…
"A big-hearted story that's as sweet as it is awesome." -R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder "An honest, emotionally rich take on disability, family, and growing up." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
In the tradition of Wonder and Out of My Mind, this big-hearted middle grade debut tells the story of an irrepressible girl with cerebral palsy whose life takes an unexpected turn when she moves to a new town.
Ellie's a girl who tells it like it is. That surprises some people, who see a kid in a wheelchair and think she's going to be all sunshine and cuddles. The thing…
As a child, all I wanted to read were books about adventure. I also had an adventurous childhood, growing up in the Louisiana swamps with a father who actually hunted alligators and took me with him. As I came of age, I longed to tell stories, and, as they say, it’s best to write about what you know. To date, I’ve penned six novels, all set in the exotic wetlands of Cajun, Louisiana. I feel missionary about this—that my writing gifts allow me to decode my homeplace in a way that makes it easier for outsiders to see the singular niche it occupies on the American landscape.
What are you made of, really? Who hasn’t conjured up a survival scenario in which you are the protagonist? How would you fare?
I loved this book because the author put you on that plane in that horribly inconceivable situation in which you simply know you will likely die. But you don’t—not immediately, anyway. But then the real struggle begins. This book resonates with me because every difficult, life-changing scenario is utterly plausible, unnerving, and interesting.
This award-winning contemporary classic is the survival story with which all others are compared—and a page-turning, heart-stopping adventure, recipient of the Newbery Honor. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his mother’s infidelity, is traveling by single-engine plane to visit his father for the first time since the divorce. When the plane crashes, killing the pilot, the sole survivor is Brian. He is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother…
I have had a love of sci-fi and fantasy since I was twelve, and I have been an avid reader since then. I have always had an obsession with all things space and the mysteries that reside out there, and it was my dream to create a story that intermixed that with the fantasy worlds I grew up adoring. Since I released my debut book, I have broken into the indie social scene across multiple platforms. I am part of a sixteen-person author group where we share our passion and ideas for one another’s writing, and I have been on numerous BookTube channels and podcasts discussing the craft.
I recommend this book because, like many kids, it was one of my first introductions to the world of fiction. And given its popularity, it is a story I have always thought back on when thinking about my own writing. What elements of it are a reason for its popularity that I could establish in my own work?
The big one I took away was how the story is intermixed with our reality. I think contemporary urban fantasies, or those in the magical realism realm, I think a big part of the appeal is that readers find it believable and more relatable because it is set in our “reality." Of course, to reach such a status as Harry Potter, it needs to be a great story, but that was an element I tried to mimic, albeit in a space opera sense. This is the first book in the series…
Galloping gargoyles ... 2022 is the silver anniversary of J.K. Rowling's magical classic Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone!
The boy wizard Harry Potter has been casting a spell over young readers and their families ever since 1997. Now the first book in this unmissable series celebrates 25 years in print! The paperback edition of the tale that introduced us to Harry, Ron and Hermione has been updated and dressed in silver to mark the occasion. It's time to take the magical journey of a lifetime ...
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping…
I grew up playing in nature: body surfing the waves in Southern California, backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, swimming in rivers. For the past thirty years, I’ve lived in the redwoods of Northern California. Spending so much time in the peace and beauty of nature has filled me with joy and deep respect for the incredibly interconnectedness of living ecosystems. I’ve also had a lifelong passion for reading, especially fairy tales, fables and fantasies. Combining nature and fantasy in my writing allows me to explore ideas and inspirations about how we can live in harmony on our one beautiful planet.
A fable about forest creatures coming together and putting differences aside to save their home from the Smashbasher. This book is an early chapter book for 7-9-year-olds and includes beautiful illustrations. The trees have names and are inhabited by various creatures. Heartwood will bring children closer to the magic of the forest and nature.
I recommend this book because I live in the redwood forest and love trees myself. The book captures the essence of the magic we feel when we enter an unspoiled forest, and how important it is to protect these sacred and life-giving places. The fact that the only way for the forest creatures to save their home is to find their similarities and work together strikes me as particularly relevant today.
"Quarrelling erupted. The faeries bickered amongst themselves. The magpies and squirrels tossed spiteful comments at each other across the clearing. The mushrooms started to wilt in the nasty atmosphere created by the squabbling. And the Smashbasher crept closer, gobbling up the forest, chomping the old ones, crushing and crunching its way toward The Linney."
Will the forest creatures find a way to save their homes? Can they put their squabbles aside and come up with a plan to stop the Smashbasher? You can find out by sitting down somewhere comfortable and reading this book.
I grew up playing in nature: body surfing the waves in Southern California, backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, swimming in rivers. For the past thirty years, I’ve lived in the redwoods of Northern California. Spending so much time in the peace and beauty of nature has filled me with joy and deep respect for the incredibly interconnectedness of living ecosystems. I’ve also had a lifelong passion for reading, especially fairy tales, fables and fantasies. Combining nature and fantasy in my writing allows me to explore ideas and inspirations about how we can live in harmony on our one beautiful planet.
Soon to be a musical, this enchanting story is about an eleven-year-old girl who doesn’t know she can sing until she gets to know an oak tree in her garden, Annie Oakly, who becomes her best friend and is actually a tree spirit. As the story unfolds, and Emma is confronted with family troubles, she learns of her own vital role in saving the trees; Emma must sing!
I’m recommending this book because of my own love for both trees and music. In fact, I often sing to the redwoods where I live and sometimes imagine they are singing along with their rustling squeaks and creaks. The author tells a story grounded in everyday problems, such as living with a grandmother with dementia, while bringing the fantastical and magical world of nature vividly alive.
Eleven-year-old Emma doesn't know that she comes from generations of tree singers, passed from mother to daughter. She doesn't believe she can sing. Her ailing grandmother has just come to live with the family. Her father is hardly ever at home. Her mother has been acting strange. To add to Emma's troubles, her mother's great uncle from England is coming to stay. Then, a strange old woman wearing a hat full of feathers appears mysteriously in her garden. She gives Emma a white swan feather that emits a haunting melody. Emma's only solace is the oak tree in her garden,…
I am a cultural historian, film critic, literary critic, editor, and essayist–and a frustrated fiction writer–fascinated by ‘the fantastic’ in art or in life. Answering that fascination, I wrote Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children (2002), and I’ve written two books for the BFI Film Classics series on two great movies of the fantastic, Rosemary’s Baby (2020) and It’s A Wonderful Life (2023). I also edited three anthologies of Victorian and Edwardian fantasy, The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (2010) and Victorian Fairy Tales (2015), and now an anthology, Origins of Science Fiction (2022) for Oxford World’s Classics.
Though I admire her classic work, The Left Hand of Darkness, it’s The Word For World Is Forest that most lingers in the mind.
Ursula Le Guin worried that the book was too simple and that its portrait of the mad colonialist soldier, Captain Davidson, was too unshaded a vision of militarist evil. Well, perhaps. However, men like Davidson can be found in equally brutal forms in accounts of the European invasion of the Americas or in Roger Casement’s report on the Belgians in the Congo.
But it is the otherworldly Selver who possesses my imagination, that archetypal ‘little green man,’ that strange new god of a person, poised between the innocent world he seeks to protect and the violence he must unleash to ensure its survival.
When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters.
Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.
I have been in love with the ocean, since I first visited Galveston at the age of five. The cadence of the waves and tide called to me in a way that is hard to explain, and every creature within simply mesmerized me. I read everything about the ocean that I could find, and I haven’t stopped to this day. My book is fact-checked by two marine biologists as well, just to ensure that all of the information is accurate.
It is hard to think of your childhood without remembering The Magic School Bus. Both the books and the show were simply captivating and taught scientific concepts in a fun, engaging way that stuck with all of us. It is always my go-to when I am teaching science, and my kids absolutely adore watching or reading this series.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Scholastic is re-releasing the ten original Magic School Bus titles in paperback. With updated scientific information, the bestselling science series ever is back!
The classroom is decorated as Dinosaur Land, but Ms. Frizzle-inspired by an archeological dig-craves a more authentic experience. The Magic School Bus turns into a time machine and transports the class back millions of years to an adventure where they learn about dinosaurs, their habitats and diets, and even a Maiasaura nesting ground.
I’m a Canadian children’s author who is curious about people, places, and history. There is always something new to discover. I am an introvert by nature but I love travelling the world through the pages of books. By exploring the world (in real life or through reading) we learn about survival, struggle, and overcoming obstacles. We might just get inspired to make a greater contribution to our world.
Bite-sized bits of world knowledge are a great way to explore the world from the comfort of your own living room (or car or classroom). Visuals and a timeline help kids navigate history, discoveries, wars, revolutions, and inventions. This is the type of book kids can pick up and put down anytime. It also adds to general knowledge and builds great ideas for family trivia night!
Get to grips with history like never before as you travel through the ages in this history encyclopedia for children that stretches from prehistoric times to modern day.
Introducing an updated volume of History Year by Year - a timeline of world history that joins the dots of history by putting key historic events across the world on one timeline for children, including everything from prehistoric people, to world wars, humans on the moon, and so much more! Every page is jam-packed pictures and original artefacts, to give children an accurate insight into each era. Including features that explain major…
I’m a Canadian children’s author who is curious about people, places, and history. There is always something new to discover. I am an introvert by nature but I love travelling the world through the pages of books. By exploring the world (in real life or through reading) we learn about survival, struggle, and overcoming obstacles. We might just get inspired to make a greater contribution to our world.
I love, love, love how MacLeod and Wishinsky create their “accidental” books. It’s the perfect blend of entertaining and educational facts about people from around the world making great discoveries. It also shows the most ordinary people can make the most extraordinary discoveries.
Don't be afraid to try! Make connections! Be persistent! Ask questions and never take no for an answer! Learn the secrets and amazing stories of successful inventors!
How to Become an Accidental Genius is full of inspiring tales of famous and lesser-known inventors who have changed the world, from George Washington Carver, Mary Anderson (inventor of the windshield wiper) and inventor and actress Hedy Lamarr to Frank Epperson (of Popsicle fame) and Mary Sherman Morgan (The Woman Who Saved the U.S. Space Race). Readers will be amazed at the inventiveness of these geniuses. The book focuses on inventors from North…
