Lost on a Mountain in Maine
Donn Fendler
Based on the true account of a boy's harrowing journey through the vast wilderness of the Katahdin Mountains, Lost on a Mountain in Maine is a gripping survival story for all ages. Twelve-year-old Donn Fendler steps away from his Boy Scout troop for only a minute, but in the foggy mountains of Maine, a minute is all it takes. After hours of trying to find his way back, a nervous and tired Donn falls down an embankment, making it impossible for him to be found. One sleepless night goes by, followed by a second . . . and before Donn knows it, almost two weeks have passed, leaving him starving, scared, and delirious. With rainstorms, black bears, and his fear of being lost forever, Donn's journey is a physically, mentally, and emotionally charged story told from the point of view of the boy who lived it. Don't miss this thrilling survival story, a proven high-interest winner that pulls in readers the way Hatchet , My Side of the Mountain , and the I Survived books do.
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I've been joking that I read this as a part of studying for my Maine citizenship exam. I've become friends with a lot of Mainers since moving to New England and nearly all of them have mentioned being required to read this book in school growing up. After hearing about it so many times (and being lent a copy by my friend), I was curious enough to give it a shot myself. I'm an avid hiker myself who hopes to summit Katahdin myself in the coming years so the story naturally appealed to me. Just under 100 pages long, I can totally see how this book would make a great pick for kids who might be tackling their first few cover-to-cover chapter book reads! The story, told from Fendler's POV as his younger self, is easy-to-follow and very compelling. The details of his survival story are appropriately scary for a book intended for children 8-12. There's nothing too gruesome, but there's still an element of real direness to his story. We struggle along with Fendler as he deals with incessantly biting insects, sleeping on the ground with limited shelter, and having to walk miles barefoot day after day. I remember reading survival stories like this in elementary and middle school (Hatchet, The Call of the Wild) and being riveted by them. I think it's so cool that kids in Maine had an opportunity to read such a gripping story about a place that was local to them. I've heard that Fendler spent countless hours visiting schools and answering students' questions, which is really amazing too. I think it's great to kids to read about other, real-life kids going through difficult times and overcoming them. There's also a lot of lessons to be learned from Fendler's story about wilderness safety and survival, although I think he did a pretty amazing job for a 12-year-old. As for the book itself, my only critique is that I wish it had had a more detailed map that was drawn to scale! I kept flipping back to the map over and over. I think that the illustrations are really great, but I wish they were overlaid on an actual map. The distance that Fendler covers is truly incredible and I wish the map more clearly captured the enormity of his feat. I think that level of additional detail wouldn't be too inaccessible to young readers.
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