Are You Prepared? Survival Stories

September is Disaster Preparedness Month.  So this week, we are sharing survival chapter books.  Here's a few of our favorites . . . .

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Storm Blown by Nick Courage

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Alejandro worries about his great-uncle while helping guests at a resort, and in New Orleans, Emily worries about her sick brother, as a major hurricane rages, changing both their lives forever.

More Books --

Denali Storm by Michael Spradlin

Hurricane by Terry Trueman

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

Hurricane Katrina Rescue by Kate Messenger

Lacey's Story by W. Bruce Cameron

Me and Sam-Sam Handle the Apocalypse by Susan Vaught

Racing Storm Mountain by Trent Reedy

Skylark and Wallcreeper by Anne Carelli

The Storm Before Atlanta by Karen Schwabach

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

Survival in the Storm by Katelan Jenke

Tornado Hits by Hilde Lysiak

Reading a Winter Wonderland

This week, I am sharing chapter books featuring a winter setting.  Here are a few of my favorites . . .

The Last Polar Bears by Harry Horse
Letters from Grandfather, who has gone on an expedition with his little dog Roo, to find the last polar bears at the North Pole.

Dogsong by Gary Paulsen
A fourteen-year-old Eskimo boy who feels at odds with aspects of modern life takes a 1400-mile journey by dog sled across ice, tundra, and mountains seeking his own "song" of himself.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Hazel and Jack are best friends until an accident with a magical mirror and a run-in with a villainous queen find Hazel on her own, entering an enchanted wood in the hopes of saving Jack's life.


More Books --
Anna's Blizzard by Alison Hart
Blizzard's Wake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Mystery at Snowflake Inn by Gertrude Chandler Warner
North by Donna Jo Napoli
The Tale of Rescue by Michael J. Rosen
Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
The Winter Pony by Iain Lawrence

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through February 28, 2020.

A Blizzard of Books

This is our final week of Mad Science workshops.  The topic this week is Walloping Weather.  Since we are right in the middle of hot summertime, I thought I would focus on snowy stories . . .

Blizzard's Wake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
In March of 1941, when a severe blizzard suddenly hits Bismarck, North Dakota, a girl trying to save her stranded father and brother inadvertently helps the man who killed her mother four years before.

Anna's Blizzard by Alison Hart
Having never excelled at schoolwork, twelve-year-old Anna discovers that she may know a few things about survival when the 1888 Children's Blizzard traps her and her classmates in their Nebraska schoolhouse.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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.

The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
Gifts from Gwyn's grandmother on his ninth birthday open up a whole new world to him, as he discovers he has magical powers that help him heal the breach with his father that has existed ever since his sister's mysterious disappearance four years before.

Snow! Snow! And More Snow! - Part 3

Well, I've shared some of my favorite picture books and teen books about snow.  Now it's time for some chapter books . . .

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura and her family must survive a winter in which it is one blizzard after another.  The trains are stuck in the snow and they can't get any more supplies.  The coal is all gone as is the wood.  And there is precious little food left. 

The Leanin' Dog by K.A. Nuzum
Dessa and her father have been grieving her mother's death.  Dessa isn't allowed to go into town or even really leave the yard of their house.  Then an injured dog arrives and helps Dessa and her father to move on.


The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
Gwyn was given five gifts by his grandmother on his ninth birthday in the hopes that they will show him how to become a magician.  When he releases the gifts to the winds he is given a spider in return -- a special spider that shows him a snowy, icy land where his sister seems to have gone.