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Island of the Blue Dolphins

Scott O'Dell · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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❤️

Julie of the Wolves

Jean Craighead George · 170 pages

Miyax, like many adolescents, is torn. But unlike most, her choices may determine whether she lives or dies. At 13, an orphan, and unhappily married, Miyax runs away from her husband's parents' home, hoping to reach San Francisco and her pen pal. But she becomes lost in the vast Alaskan tundra, with no food, no shelter, and no idea which is the way to safety. Now, more than ever, she must look har

Animal CompanionSurvival StoryIndigenous IdentityMiddle Grade
❤️

White Fang

Jack London · 230 pages

The story of a wolf/dog cross, who is raised by Indians, and becomes a deadly fighter.

Survival StoryUnderdogAnimal CompanionDogs
❤️

The Scorpio Races

Maggie Stiefvater · 435 pages

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She

Animal CompanionIslandUnderdogComing of Age
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Old Yeller

Fred Gipson · 158 pages

At first, Travis couldn't stand the sight of Old Yeller. The stray dog was ugly, and a thieving rascal, too. But he sure was clever, and a smart dog could be a big help on the wild Texas frontier, especially with Papa away on a long cattle drive up to Abilene. Strong and courageous, Old Yeller proved that he could protect Travis's family from any sort of danger. But can Travis do the same for O

Animal CompanionDogsBittersweetMiddle Grade
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The Black Stallion

Walter Farley · 196 pages

***Story of a horse the New York Times has called ''the most famous fictional horse of the Century!''*** Young Alec is on his way home when a black stallion is loaded on to his ship. In a tragic shipwreck Alec saves the life of the black stallion. Stranded on an island the only way to survive is to trust the other. **Will Alec ever make it safely home? Will the Black beat the two best racing ho

Animal CompanionIslandSurvival StoryHopeful
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Rilla of Ingleside

L.M. Montgomery · 277 pages

Fifteen-year-old Rilla, the daughter of Anne Shirley Blythe, grows from a carefree, irresponsible girl into a strong and capable young woman during the war years, 1914-1918.

IslandHopefulBittersweetComing of Age
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Where the Red Fern Grows

Wilson Rawls · 249 pages

More than anything else in life, Billy Colman wanted a dog. When at the age of ten he saw an ad for two coon-hound pups, he resolved to its their purchase price of $50. Two years later, having scrimped and saved, he attained his goal—the dogs were his, and he named them Old Dan and Little Ann. Billy spent weeks training his dogs to hunt their ring-tailed quarry. Night after night the three of t

UnderdogDogsBittersweetMiddle Grade
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Nation

Terry Pratchett · 367 pages

The sea has taken everything. Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne...a girl from the other side of the globe — is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave. Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fir

IslandIndigenous IdentitySurvival StoryHopeful
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Shiloh

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor · 128 pages

Animal CompanionDogsHopefulUnderdog
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Lassie Come Home

Eric Knight · 239 pages

A collie named lassie has to be sold because her family are having bad times . Lassie escapes twice but when her new owner takes her to a place too far to run from will lassie be able to make the journey back to her home ? A collie undertakes a thousand-mile journey in order to once again meet her former master at the school gate. Lassie is Joe's prize collie and constant companion. But when Jo

Animal CompanionDogsHopefulSurvival Story
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The Long Winter

Laura Ingalls Wilder · 334 pages

After an October blizzard, Laura's family moves from the claim shanty into town for the winter, a winter that an Indian has predicted will be seven months of bad weather.

Survival StoryHopefulUnderdogMiddle Grade
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I Am the Messenger

Markus Zusak · 386 pages

DogsAnimal CompanionUnderdogHopeful
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Touching Spirit Bear

Ben Mikaelsen · 289 pages

Survival StoryAnimal CompanionIslandHopeful
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Hatchet

Gary Paulsen · 192 pages

Brian Robison, a teenage boy struggling through his parents divorce, is flying up north to stay with his dad for the summer. However, his plane crashes and he is forced to survive the Canadian wilderness. Now living in a world completely opposite of his own, he is now able to discover himself in this forsaken and misunderstood beautiful world. The story is continued in "The River" "Brian's Wint

Survival StoryUnderdogHopefulMiddle Grade
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City of the Beasts

Isabel Allende · 406 pages

With his mother in hospital, fifteen-year-old Alex Cold is sent to his fierce, wonderful grandmother, Kate - a pipe-smoking, vodka-drinking old reporter with blue eyes "as sharp as daggers' points". Kate is about to embark on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon rainforest, but rather than change her plans, she simply takes Alex along with her. They set off with their team -

Indigenous IdentityAnimal CompanionSurvival StoryComing of Age
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Out of the Dust

Karen Hesse · 235 pages

"Dust piles up like snow across the prairie. . . ." A terrible accident has transformed Billie Jo's life, scarring her inside and out. Her mother is gone. Her father can't talk about it. And the one thing that might make her feel better -- playing the piano -- is impossible with her wounded hands. To make matters worse, dust storms are devastating the family farm and all the farms nearby. Wh

Survival StoryHopefulBittersweetComing of Age
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Holes

Louis Sachar · 240 pages

Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green

Survival StoryUnderdogComing of AgeHopeful
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To Shape a Dragon's Breath

Moniquill Blackgoose · 511 pages

IslandIndigenous IdentityComing of AgeHopeful
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One Crazy Summer

Rita Williams-Garcia · 232 pages

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the pas

HopefulMiddle GradeComing of AgeBittersweet
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Messenger

Lois Lowry · 169 pages

Second installment to Youth classic, "The Giver." Required in numerous 8th/9th grade English classrooms. Introducing the idea of a utopian society to youth for the 1st time. The well known Trilogy also includes a third book, Gathering Blue. Only recently for the 20th Anniversary of "The Giver" author, Lois Lowry has written a 4th book called, "The Son" now available as of Oct 2012. Which makes th

HopefulSurvival StoryMiddle GradeComing of Age
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The Wild Robot

Peter Brown · 287 pages

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is--but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a fierce storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabita

IslandSurvival StoryBittersweetMiddle Grade
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Bud, Not Buddy

Christopher Paul Curtis · 249 pages

It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase filled with his own important, secret things. 2. He's the author of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but

UnderdogBittersweetMiddle GradeHopeful
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith · 443 pages

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchant

UnderdogHopefulBittersweetComing of Age
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The Midwife's Apprentice

Karen Cushman · 122 pages

In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

UnderdogHopefulMiddle GradeComing of Age

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