Family Survival Fiction

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to a faraway Arctic outpost. But one night, April catches a glimpse of something distinctly bear-shaped loping across the horizon. A polar bear who shouldn’t be there - who is hungry, lonely, and a long way from home.

The only thing Lucas loves more than football is his Uncle Benny, his dad's best friend at the fire department where they both work. Benny taught Lucas everything about football. So when Lucas' parents decide the sport is too dangerous and he needs to quit, Lucas has to talk to his biggest fan. So the next morning, Lucas takes the train to the city instead of the bus to school. It's a bright, beautiful day in New York. But just as Lucas arrives at his uncle's firehouse, everything changes - and nothing will ever be the same again.

Twelve-year-old Fernando “Fin” joins his grandfather on a secret quest to find a long-lost treasure swept to sea. But when their first mission takes a near-deadly turn, leaving his abuelo weak and unable to speak, Fin’s left to navigate the hunt alone. Well, not exactly alone—his boring, totally unadventurous dad agrees to help out. With danger lurking at every turn, Fin dives into the mission in order to save Abuelo's life.

3:47 a.m. That's when they come for Wren Clemmens. She's hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who've gone so far off the rails, their parents don't know what to do with them anymore. This is wilderness therapy camp. Eight weeks of survivalist camping in the desert. Eight weeks to turn your life around. Yeah, right.

August 1918. Everybody likes twelve-year-old Josie Winslow. While she helps in the family drug store and plans for the first day of school, her pharmacist father is puzzled by newspaper articles about influenza arriving in New York on ships from Europe. It is still summer. Flu is a winter disease. Billy Detwiler has been kicked out of prep school. No one, not even Billy, is happy he will be in Josie’s school let alone her eighth-grade class. He is a bully of the first order and is looking for his next victim. He calls Josie “Pharmacy Girl,” but it is no compliment. By mid-October, ...

The Lockwood brothers are supposed to be able to survive anything. Their dad, a hardcore believer in self-reliance, has stockpiled enough food and water at their isolated Nevada home to last for months. But when they are robbed of all their supplies during a massive blackout while their dad is out of town, John and Stew must walk 96 miles in the stark desert sun to get help. Along the way, they’re forced to question their dad’s insistence on self-reliance and ask just what it is that we owe to our neighbors, our kin, and to ourselves.

Previously published as "The Shaman's Gift" by Amara Cudney. On September 11, 2004, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City collapsed, as two planes crashed into them. It was a day no one would forget. Thousands of people lost their lives, and then the news came that there were two other incidents. The country was in shock. That was the day that Lucinda lost her husband, not to death, but to war. He boarded the bus in the little town of Durango, Colorado, with all the other young men who were bursting at the seams to destroy whoever this enemy was. The phone call came ...

Eleven-year-old Japanese American Owen has been in Japan for his sixth-grade year. By March he finally feels like he's getting the hang of the new culture, making friends at school, and feeling at home with the "weird" food. But early one morning, everything changes - and Owen suddenly finds himself just trying to survive one of history's most devastating disasters.

Three generations of women fight to survive in this heart pounding glimpse into an apocalyptic future where one man is determined to be the last alive. As world leaders and street walkers alike succumb to the effects of the widespread biochemical weapon, no one is safe. Cady Warren, who once believed in radical ideas like wiping out an entire civilization to save the rainforest, has grown up. Nothing is as simple as it once was. She’s now a mother, microbiologist, and a slightly paranoid prepper. Her ideals have changed--but Jackson Aimes doesn't know that. Jackson Aimes is determined to ...

Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation. But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret.

In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, author Lauren Tarshis shines a spotlight on the story of the Normandy landings, the largest seaborne invasion in history and foundation for the Allied victory in World War II.

Maximum Ride and her "flock"—Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel—are just like ordinary kids, only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time. Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of whack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare: fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City.

For Vega and her family, salmon is life. And Vega is learning to be a salmon finder, preparing for the day when she will be her family’s matriarch. But then she and her brother Deneb are separated from their pod when a devastating earthquake and tsunami render the seascape unrecognizable. Vega must use every skill she has to lead her brother back to their family. The young orcas face a shark attack, hunger, the deep ocean, and polluted waters on their journey. Will Vega become the leader she’s destined to be?

The adventure continues! The family and of course Bruce Lee the Scar-Faced Ninja Attack Kitty from Japan (Who Smells Like Poop) get deeper into Minecraft, learning more about the game as they go. They’re finally starting to feel somewhat comfortable, but what happens when Dad fishes up an old book that tells a very strange and very scary history of the game?

A historical adventure novel set in the Yukon Territory and Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. Join the Bradford family on an exhilarating journey through the icy wilderness in "The Golden North," a tale of adventure, resilience, and family bonds. When a daring invitation from Uncle Will beckons them to the gold-laden territories of the north, Charles Bradford, along with his sons David and Roly, must navigate uncertain paths, dangerous encounters, and transformative experiences in a land ripe with promise and peril. As they leave behind the familiar comforts of Connecticut, the ...

The Accidental Minecraft Family now has a mission! They know they must eventually explore the wider world and figure out just what the mysterious book they found was all about. Preparing for a long journey takes a lot of work, though. Kate finally gets to start a farm! Will they be able to make enough armor, food, and more importantly, protect it all from being eaten by Bruce the cat?

When 16-year-old Amy returns home, she can't tell her family what's happened to her. She can't tell them where she's been since she and her best friend, her cousin Dee, were kidnapped six years ago - who stole them from their families or what's become of Dee. She has to stay silent because she's afraid of what might happen next, and she's desperate to protect her secrets at any cost. Amy tries to readjust to life at "home," but nothing she does feels right. She's a stranger in her own family, and the guilt that she's the one who returned is insurmountable.

Don't call them heroes. But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart. Take Ethan, aka Scam. He's got a voice inside him that'll say whatever you want to hear, whether it's true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn't - like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren't exactly best friends these days.

When Sadie Harlan visits her daughter, Lauren, at her summer internship in Yosemite National Park, it seems like the perfect way to forget about her empty nest and failing marriage back home. But when the two women get lost on what’s meant to be a short hike, they suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives. As they search for food, water, and civilization, they battle injury, exhaustion, and natural predators. Sadie, however, is assaulted by more than just the unforgiving elements.

It's been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. For Miranda Evans life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce. The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda's father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow.