After a sea kayaking trip with his father takes a dangerous turn, Tom Parker is stranded on the remote, outer coast of unpopulated Bear Island in the waters of Prince William Sound, Alaska. With only a small survival kit in his pocket, Tom finds himself soaked and freezing, and worst of all—alone. Desperate to find his father, Tom doesn’t know how long he can survive and must put his survival skills to the test as he fights to reach safety. Will Tom make it through this wilderness full of bears and other dangers?
Surviving Bear Island is a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection in the High Interest Middle Category for grades 5 to 8.
Surviving Bear Island is a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection.
From Kirkus Reviews: The tension is well-crafted and realistic. Bear Island is a challenging environment to survive, but a terrific thrill on the page.
From the Alaska Dispatch: Greci has taken a popular if somewhat shopworn theme of juvenile literature — being marooned — and given it new vitality. You needn’t be a kid to stay up late reading this one.–David James.
From the Juneau Empire: Surviving Bear Island is an exciting book outdoors-minded boys and girls both will enjoy.. .It’s fast paced enough to keep reluctant readers’ attention, but it also avoids oversimplification while communicating real-life dilemmas in understandable ways….Greci has spent time in Prince William Sound, and it shows. He describes Tom’s gradual initiation from the comforts of civilization into stark necessity and the natural world in a way kids will be able to relate to.–Mary Catharine Martin
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Surviving Bear Island is a heart-pounding adventure that both kids and adults will enjoy…It follows its hero through a brilliant coming-of-age the likes of which are unlikely to be found anywhere outside Alaska.–Addley Fannin
From The Alaska Dispatch Favorite Books of 2015: -Greci gets inside his protagonist’s head, offering a fully believable character who gets put through hell. This is no happy romp in the forest. Like all the best young-adult fiction, “Bear Island” is a book for adults, too.–David James
Selected as the 2022-23 Alaska Reads Book.
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