Children's Book Suggestions | Survival Stories

Some of our favorite survival stories for readers in grades 3-7, most of which are great readalikes for I Survived. For more fictional survival stories, browse our full list of survival stories for kids. Survival guides and true stories can be found in Children's Nonfiction under number 613.69.

Updated June 5, 2024
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County)Oregon City Public Library
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Across the desert
Bowling, Dusti
Paper Book
Twelve-year-old Jolene spends every day she can at the library watching her favorite livestream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old "Addie Earhart" shares her adventures flying an ultralight plane over the desert. While watching this daring girl fly through the sky, Jolene can dream...

A young teen sets out into the desert in search of her favorite livestreamer, a young pilot whose plane went down and whose disappearance the authorities refuse to take seriously. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

The last kids on Earth
Brallier, Max
Paper Book
A Netflix Original series! The first book in the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling series, with over 7 million copies in print! "Terrifyingly fun! Delivers big thrills and even bigger laughs."--Jeff Kinney, author of the #1 ...

The ultimate kid-friendly zombie apocalypse story! (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Clan
Brouwer, Sigmund
Paper Book
The classic survival story gets a prehistoric twist in this gripping middle-grade adventure featuring a boy and his sabre tooth tiger cub, perfect for fans of Hatchet. Part survival story, part animal-human friendship story and part redemption story, Clan follows the...

A prehistoric survival story featuring a disabled teen boy from a Christy-nominated Canadian author. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Alice on the island : a Pearl Harbor survival story
Poe, Mayumi Shimose
Paper Book
In 1941, thirteen-year-old Alice's days are filled with swimming in the Hawaiian sea, going to school, and helping watch her younger siblings. But on December 7, everything changes when she experiences an act of war, the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As the United States enters World War II, Alice's...

Girls Survive is a cross between I Survived Books and the classic 90s Dear America series, with dozens of entries about girls surviving significant events in history. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Stranded
Probst, Jeff
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller * From the Emmy-Award winning host of Survivor, Jeff Probst, with Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life co-author, Chris Tebbetts, comes an adventure series where a family vacation becomes a game of survival! It was supposed to be a...

The host of the Survivor reality show uses his insider survival knowledge to help craft a suspenseful survival story for young readers. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

I survived the sinking of the Titanic, 1912
Tarshis, Lauren.
Paper Book
The most terrifying events in history are brought vividly to life in this New York Times-bestselling series!Ten-year-old George Calder can't believe his luck -- he and his little sister, Phoebe, are on the famous Titanic, crossing the ocean with their Aunt Daisy. The ship is full of exciting...

The O.G.! The original chapter books are also being adapted as graphic novels. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Overboard!
Johnson, Terry Lynn
Paper Book
A high-stakes adventure series perfect for fans of the I Survived series and Hatchet. Eleven-year-old Travis and his family are on a whale watch off the coast of Washington when disaster strikes. The boat capsizes, throwing everyone into the ice-cold chaotic waves. Separated from their...

The first book in this interconnected survival story series starts in a familiar setting: whale watching off the PNW coast. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Shipwreck island
Bodeen, S. A.
Paper Book
Sarah Robinson is deeply troubled in the wake of her dad's second marriage. She now has to deal with a new stepmom and two stepbrothers, Marco, who is her age, and Nacho, who's younger. Even though they've all moved from Texas to California to start life as a new, blended family, none of the kids...

An updated take on Hatchet starring a young girl stranded at sea with her new stepfamily. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

96 miles
Esplin, J. L.
Paper Book
21 days without power. 2 brothers on a desperate trek. 72 hours before time runs out... The Lockwood brothers are supposed to be able to survive anything. Their dad, a hardcore believer in self-reliance, has stockpiled enough food and water at their isolated...

Two brothers cross the Nevada desert during a power outage while relying on the survivalist skills they learned from their prepper dad. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Two degrees
Gratz, Alan
Paper Book
The instant #1 New York Times bestseller! #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz (Refugee; Ground Zero) is back, tackling the urgent topic of climate change in this breathtaking, action-packed novel that will keep readers turning pages while making...

Three interconnected stories of young teens surviving climate disasters in a not-too-distant future where the global temperature has risen two degrees Celsius. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Dog driven
Johnson, Terry Lynn
Paper Book
From the author of Ice Dogs comes a riveting adventure about a musher who sets out to prove her impaired vision won't hold her back from competing in a rigorous sled race through the Canadian wilderness. Perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen. McKenna Barney is trying to hide...

A dogsledder with a vision impairment sets out on a daunting race through the Canadian Arctic. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Desolation Canyon
London, Jonathan
Paper Book
Once you plunge into this thrilling white-water adventure you will not be able to stop until you are safe back on shore. . . . A Class 6 white-water read! ― Roland Smith, NYT best-selling author of PEAK This rapid-paced story for young readers from best-selling author...

The author of the beloved Froggy picture books kicks off this survival series for older readers with an epic whitewater rafting trip. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Wild river : a novel
Philbrick, W. R.
Paper Book
Newbery Honor author Rodman Philbrick sends readers rushing down a raging river on a life-or-death adventure when a white water rafting trip goes terribly wrong! Daniel Redmayne is fast asleep on the first night of a white water rafting trip, when he's awoken by screams. The dam has failed....

Rodman Philbrick is a master of survival stories for middle schoolers, this one featuring a whitewater rafting trip gone wrong. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

We are wolves
Nannestad, Katrina
Paper Book
This "hauntingly atmospheric" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), heart-stopping middle grade novel follows three of the Wolfskinder, German children left to fend for themselves in the final days of World War II, as they struggle to hold onto themselves and each other while surviving in the...

A historical survival story inspired by a true story from World War II, in which orphaned children survived by hiding in the woods. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Paradise on fire
Rhodes, Jewell Parker
Paper Book
From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.​   Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her...

A grieving city kid is sent to wildnerness camp after the death of her parents, only to be faced with a life-threatening climate disaster. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Brother's keeper
Lee, Julie (Children's fiction writer)
Paper Book
With war looming on the horizon and winter setting in, can two children escape North Korea on their own? WINNER OF THE FREEMAN BOOK AWARD! North Korea. December, 1950. Twelve-year-old Sora and her family live under an iron set of rules- No travel without...

Two siblings escape to South Korea in this Korean War-era survival story based on the author's family history. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Me and Sam-Sam handle the apocalypse
Vaught, Susan
Paper Book
"Edgar-winning Vaught, a neuropsychologist, has both personal and professional experience to draw on in crafting a narrator who is admirably smart and resilient despite an 'itchy' brain and a compulsion to count things." --Booklist (starred review) "Deeply smart and...

A neurodivergent girl and her small-but-fierce dog save the day (and her dad) after a tornado strikes their town. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Hatchet
Paulsen, Gary
Paper Book
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....

A beloved classic about a teen boy who survives 54 days in the wilderness with only his wits and a hatchet after being stranded alone in a plane crash. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)


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