I am NOT a fan of survival fiction ("Hatchet" annoyed the crud out of me). I am, however, a big fan of Rorby's fictions. "Hurt Go Happy" is one of my favorite books of all time & I quite enjoyed "Outside of a Horse" and "Dolphin Sky." This is just great.

The spoiler-free synopsis is: Sarah, a city girl, scholarship student at a private high school is on a field trip with her snooty fellow students when she meets Andy, a cute boy who lives in the glades (instead of going to a school named after them) and who happens to have access to his fathers airboat. Sarah says yes to a picnic with Andy (and fakes sick on the field trip). The two stop on an island for their snack...and find themselves stranded ten miles out in the wetlands. What follows is a four day struggle for survival. I was, quite frankly, amazed at the level of detail in their encounters with nature.

Two realistic teen characters presented warts, fears, and threngths and all. I did not want to put this down. It says YA on the back, but Sarah is "almost 14" and Andy is 15, so I would recommend this to kids (especially girls who are sick and tired of damsels in distress whether they are rescued by princes or vampires or plain old boys) ages 10 & up.

(After some of the doodie I read this year, I am just so dang happy to round off my year with areally great read! Give it a try).