Sole Survivor by Norman Ollestad and Brendan Kiely (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 272 pages, grades 5-8). Norman Ollestad recounts his experience of surviving a plane crash as an 11-year-old in 1979. His father and the pilot were killed instantly, and his father’s girlfriend Sandra, seriously injured, fell to her death when Norm was trying to help her. His dad had always pushed Norm to try the exhilarating but sometimes terrifying skiing and surfing adventures he enjoyed, and Norm found himself using the lessons from those experiences in his struggle to survive. Living with his mom and abusive stepfather had also taught him a thing or two about survival, and he miraculously was able to climb down the the icy California mountain in blizzard conditions to find help. The last part of the book tells of the aftermath of the event, in which Norm had to navigate his trauma while living full time with his mother and stepdad. After a rocky few years, he found release and healing through surfing. Based on the 2009 book Crazy for the Storm.

Okay, first off, if you’re looking for less stress in your life, do not read this book and Murder in the Jungle back-to-back, as I did. Norm’s story is harrowing, to say the least, made more so by the flashbacks to his abusive stepfather and risk-addicted father who put his son in some pretty questionable situations. It is definitely a page-turning survival story that will appeal to fans of Hatchet and other Gary Paulsen books.

The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur: A Graphic Novel Based on a True Story by Allan Wolf, illustrated by Jose Pimenta (Candlewick, 176 pages, grades 4-8). November 20, 1980 starts as an ordinary day for Lake Peigneur (who narrates the story), the miners who work in the salt mine there, the oil rig workers, the wealthy owner of a house on the lake’s shore and his gardener, and various boaters on the lake. But it quickly becomes anything but ordinary when a combination of oil drill accident and precarious mine construction causes a huge vortex in the lake that threatens to destroy everything around it. Those in and around the lake are in a race against time to get off the rig, off the water, and out of the mine. Close calls and heroism are plentiful as the story shifts quickly from one site to another. The lake claims on page 1 that it “vanished,” and in a way that’s true, at least temporarily, as it’s transformed in size and composition from a freshwater lake to the saltwater lake that exists today. Includes an author’s note with extensive additional information, how he did his research, and clarification of what is fact and fiction.

This book took me a couple of tries to get into–the beginning feels a little stilted with many characters introduced. But once things start to happen, it’s hard to put down in a way reminiscent of the best “I Survived” books. I’m hesitant to reveal the spoiler that everyone survives, but amazingly that is the case, thanks to the good judgement and courage of many involved in rescue efforts. As Allan Wolf notes in the author’s note, this good fortune is one of the reasons it didn’t become more of a news story, and kudos to him for tracking down the story and interviewing many of the eyewitnesses to create this excellent graphic novel, greatly enhanced by Jose Pimenta’s art.