Gary Paulsen's novel Hatchet won the Newbery Award in 1987 and continues to enjoy a huge following, especially among readers who enjoy survival stories.
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present—and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parent’s divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self pity, or despair —it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.
Backwater by Joan Bauer
While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, 16-year-old history buff Ivy treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her to truly know herself and her family.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a 13-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolfpack.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Young Sam Gribley leaves New York City and spends a year living by himself in a remote area of the Catskill Mountains.
Call of the Wild by Jack London
The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolfpack.
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson
After his anger erupts into violence, 15-year-old Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the Native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan island where an encounter with a huge spirit bear changes his life.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
A record of the courage and self-reliance of an Indian girl who lived alone for 18 years on an isolated off the California coast when her tribe emigrated and she was left behind.
Peak by Roland Smith
A 14-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Left alone to guard the family’s wilderness home in 18th-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.
Downriver by Will Hobbs
Fifteen-year-old Jessie and the other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival school team abandon their adult leader, hijack his boats, and try to run the dangerous white water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and in order to survive they must learn to trust each other.
The Jenna Fox Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson. The series include The Adoration of Jenna Fox, The Fox Inheritance and Fox Forever
Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
A girl, having travelled with her mother to an animal sanctuary for bonobos in the Congo, struggles to survive with the animals after revolution breaks out and she and the chimpanzees are forced to flee into the jungle.
In Darkness by Nick Lake
In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Shorty, a poor, fifteen-year-old gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a hospital and as he grows weaker, he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in 1804.
Wolves, Boys and Other Things that Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler
Two teenagers become close as the citizens of their town fight over the packs of wolves that have been reintroduced into the nearby Yellowstone National Park.
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Twenty years after the start of the war that caused the Collapse, fifteen-year-old Stephen, his father, and grandfather travel post-Collapse America scavenging, but when his grandfather dies and his father decides to risk everything to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down.
Eve by Anna Carey. There are three books in this series: Eve, Once and Rise
In 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus has wiped out most of the earth's population, Eve discovers the terrible fate that awaits students when they graduate from their all-girls school, and she sets off on a treacherous journey into the wilds of The New America, searching for a place where she can survive.
Trapped by Michael Northrop
Seven high school students are stranded at their New England high school during a week-long blizzard that shuts down the power and heat, freezes the pipes, and leaves them wondering if they will survive.
Happyface by Stephen Emond
After going through traumatic times, a troubled, socially awkward teenager moves to a new school where he tries to reinvent himself.
Backwater by Joan Bauer
While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, 16-year-old history buff Ivy treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her to truly know herself and her family.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a 13-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolfpack.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Young Sam Gribley leaves New York City and spends a year living by himself in a remote area of the Catskill Mountains.
Call of the Wild by Jack London
The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolfpack.
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson
After his anger erupts into violence, 15-year-old Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the Native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan island where an encounter with a huge spirit bear changes his life.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
A record of the courage and self-reliance of an Indian girl who lived alone for 18 years on an isolated off the California coast when her tribe emigrated and she was left behind.
Peak by Roland Smith
A 14-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Left alone to guard the family’s wilderness home in 18th-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.
Downriver by Will Hobbs
Fifteen-year-old Jessie and the other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival school team abandon their adult leader, hijack his boats, and try to run the dangerous white water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and in order to survive they must learn to trust each other.
The Jenna Fox Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson. The series include The Adoration of Jenna Fox, The Fox Inheritance and Fox Forever
Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
A girl, having travelled with her mother to an animal sanctuary for bonobos in the Congo, struggles to survive with the animals after revolution breaks out and she and the chimpanzees are forced to flee into the jungle.
In Darkness by Nick Lake
In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Shorty, a poor, fifteen-year-old gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a hospital and as he grows weaker, he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in 1804.
Wolves, Boys and Other Things that Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler
Two teenagers become close as the citizens of their town fight over the packs of wolves that have been reintroduced into the nearby Yellowstone National Park.
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Twenty years after the start of the war that caused the Collapse, fifteen-year-old Stephen, his father, and grandfather travel post-Collapse America scavenging, but when his grandfather dies and his father decides to risk everything to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down.
Eve by Anna Carey. There are three books in this series: Eve, Once and Rise
In 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus has wiped out most of the earth's population, Eve discovers the terrible fate that awaits students when they graduate from their all-girls school, and she sets off on a treacherous journey into the wilds of The New America, searching for a place where she can survive.
Trapped by Michael Northrop
Seven high school students are stranded at their New England high school during a week-long blizzard that shuts down the power and heat, freezes the pipes, and leaves them wondering if they will survive.
Happyface by Stephen Emond
After going through traumatic times, a troubled, socially awkward teenager moves to a new school where he tries to reinvent himself.