The Vine: February 25, 2011
I’m hoping your bibliophile readers can help me come up with the title of a book I read as a kid in the ’70s.
It’s about a boy who goes on a camping trip/hike up a mountain with his Boy Scout troop; he somehow gets separated from the group (I think there was a thunderstorm and he panicked) and he runs down the wrong side of the mountain and then has to figure out how to survive for days with no supplies.
I’m not having any luck Googling variations of “young adult survival novels.” And it’s not “My Side of the Mountain” because I read that one too.
Sandyk
*****
Dear Sars,
I am another person trying to remember the title of a book. I’ve Googled a couple of times and can’t seem to find the title or any sort of synopsis of the book. Here’s what I can remember:
- The main character is a boy
- The book is set up in a choose-your-own-adventure type way
- He gets bullied throughout the story
- I think it’s a scary story
- I believe the girl that he is trying to impress, her name is Ruby. He sneaks out of his parents’ house, they go to Burger King or something, and when he gets back home, the folks catch him.
Hope this helps! Thanks.
Trying To Finish The Adventure
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
The only book I can think of in regards to letter #1 is Hatchet, but the protagonist ends up lost after the charter plane that was flying him to see his dad malfunctions and crashes, so I’m thinking that’s not the one the LW is looking for.
Ooh! I think I know this one! Lost on a Mountain in Maine!. I’ve never read it but my family talks about it every time we go to Baxter State Park in Maine.
I agree with Kyle – it sounds like Lost on a Mountain in Maine. I don’t know how to do a cool linky thing but here’s a link:
http://tinyurl.com/6xgrhp9
I don’t remember the Scout troop but could the first book be Avalanche by Arther Roth?
Let me suggest another possibility for #1–Philip Viereck’s The Summer I Was Lost, known in book club paperback as Terror on the Mountain. It’s a first person narration and the kid is lost on Franconia Notch in New Hampshire. One of his teachers, who everybody adores, is Mr. Perker. (And that’s all I remember.)
Here’s an Amazon link for one edition–there’s more of a description in one review:
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Was-Lost-Philip-Viereck/dp/0590300601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298690061&sr=1-1
Oooh, I knew there was another of those books out there, but I couldn’t remember what it was called.
From the descriptions on Amazon it does look like my book was “Terror on the Mountain.” I remember the part where he makes a fishhook out of a paper clip. The one in Maine looks interesting too; I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that one.
Thanks, everyone!
Sandyk