Won this book through LibraryThing's Early Reader program.

This book is like an updated Lost in the Barrens and just as good as that Farley Mowat classic. I've never read anything by Iain Lawrence before but I see that his book, Gemini Summer, appears on the CBC list of 100 Young Adult Books That Make You Proud to be Canadian. He won a Governor General's Award for that book so I may have to pick it up.

Chris is about 12 years old and his father had died recently. His father's brother, Uncle Jack, had been his hero because he did exciting things so when he proposed that Chris come up to Kodiak, Alaska and help him sail his boat home to Vancouver Chris is eager to go. When he gets there he finds that an older boy, Frank, is also on board. Uncle Jack is eager to get started and tells Chris he will explain Frank's story once they are underway. Unfortunately, the boat capsizes and Uncle Jack is drowned before he can make that explanation. So Frank and Chris are stranded somewhere on the Alaska coast with no supplies and no way of signalling for help. Frank knows a little about foraging for food and they find an abandoned cabin that they can shelter in so they can survive until winter sets in. Chris makes friends with a raven which hangs around the cabin. On the other hand, there is a grizzly bear that considers the cabin in his territory and he wants the boys destroyed. Will the elements or the bear cause the end for the boys? I found I had to stay up late to read to the ending to find out.

I did figure out the central mystery about Frank well before it was revealed but a younger reader might not. At any rate, it didn't spoil the book for me.

I will take this book to our Winnipeg meetup today. If no-one takes it home I will leave it on the OBCZ shelf for a new reader.


When you find a BookCrossing book it is yours to do with what you like. You can read it and keep it or pass it on or if you don't think it is your kind of book pass it on to someone who might like it or release it in a spot for someone else to find like you just did. Whatever you choose it would be great if you could write a short note letting us know what new adventures the book is on.

I picked this book up at our November BookCrossing meeting. It looks interesting although if I had to get marooned somewhere I wouldn't pick Alaska with winter coming. Or Alaska at all for that matter because bears. Thanks gypsysmom.

Found this book at a Little Free Library. It was on our family's wish list as a Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award nominee for 2017. My boys, ages 10 & 12 really enjoyed it. My 12 year old wished for a less ambiguous ending, but I thought it was quite a brilliant and satisfying conclusion... anything more would have been unnecessary.

Anyways, thumbs up and happy travels, Skeleton Tree. You're being released at another Little Free Library.

-Mommy Be & Sons