I Am Still Alive

After Jess's mom dies in a car accident, she has to go live with her father in the remote Canadian wilderness.  She is still struggling with grief and the aftermath of her injuries.  Plus, she barely knows her father, she hasn't seen him years.  Now she's supposed to live in this tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere with a man she barely knows?

He makes a deal with her.  They only need to stay for one more winter.  He has promises to keep.  But then some men appear, and her father orders Jess to stay hidden which is how she survives when they murder her father and burn the cabin. 

Now she's alone.  No one knows where she is.  She's probably going to die with no food and no shelter.  It's just Jess and Bo, her dad's dog.  She grabs onto the hope that the man who dropped her off will return early for supplies.  Either that or the men who killed her father will come back for the secrets they buried in the woods.   Then she can get her revenge and an escape.

Now she just has to find a way to survive until then.

Kate Marshall's book is bleak and intense story of survival.  Give it to the kids who loved Hatchet and are ready for something with a little more weight.