So school has started. The last day of summer vacation is
the worst day, I think. Once you are
actually at school, it isn’t as bad as you thought, right? Or, was it just as bad as you thought or
worse?
How about some escape literature so you can feel better
about where you are in comparison, or maybe just to help you escape from where
you don’t want to be.The books below
are all about teens’ survival in the wild. I'll start with the newest and the oldest title on my list. IN THE BOAT: Boys in the Boat : Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympicsby Daniel James Brown Goodreads website says, "The sons of loggers,
shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from
eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for
Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936." The main character in this riveting story is Joe
Rantz, a teenager who is abandoned by his family and survives all on
his own, eventually managing by himself to enroll in the University of
Washington. Three Men in the Boat, To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome A
totally different kind of survival story of a bumbling Victorian
well-to-do threesome (and a very wise dog) who decide to flow down the
Thames to cure their collective depression. There is also a graphic novel version of this timeless story by Nidi Verma in Campfire Graphic Novels.
It’s a story of extremes—extreme sports and extreme emotions.
On the wild, lonely coast of Western Australia, two thrillseeking and barely adolescent boys fall into the enigmatic thrall of veteran big-wave surfer Sando.
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. At age eleven, he was the only survivor after his father dies in a distant winter mountain. (I picked up this book from the cover showing Ollestad, looking no more than 3 years old, piggy-backing on his surfing father.)
