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)

15 secrets to survival
Richards, Natalie D.
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling authorNatalieD. Richards's middle grade debut about a group of four classmates forced to navigate the wilderness for an extra credit project with nothing but the pages of a survival handbook-and each other-to save them. When...

Four former best friends are stranded in the woods during a wilderness retreat and must work together despite their animosity towards each other. (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)

Lost time
Mukanik, Tas
Paper Book
Jurassic World meets How to Train Your Dragon in this gorgeously drawn, adventure-packed middle grade graphic novel about a girl who gets trapped 65 million years in the past and must learn to survive with only her wits...and the pterosaur she befriends. Twelve-year...
A girl relies on a dinosaur for survival when she's accidentally trapped in the Cretaceous era. (Children's Graphic Novel Grades 3-5)
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 1947-
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)

Escape from Chernobyl
Marino, Andy
Paper Book
"Nonstop action, real history, serious danger. You gotta read these books!" --Alan Gratz, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee 26 April 1986 01:18 Alina & Lev are two siblings living in Pripyat, one of the Soviet Union's proud...

Three cousins, one of whom works at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, must escape Pripyat after the deadly reactor meltdown in April 1986. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

The wild journey of Juniper Berry
Morris, Chad
Paper Book
Eleven-year-old Juniper Berry lives in a cabin with her family deep in the wild woods. Living off the grid is usually exciting, like the time she chased off three growling raccoons with a tree branch and some acorns, or when she thought she glimpsed the legendary Bigfoot. But her happy life in the...

A reverse survival story about a girl whose family moves from their off-grid cabin to the city after her brother gets sick. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Wild river : a novel
Philbrick, W. R. (W. Rodman)
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)

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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