October 28, 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
This book is based on the true life experiences of the author. In 1969, Norman Ollestad is involved with lots of outdoor adventures with his father, Norm, who encourages his son to ski, surf, hike, and generally get outside for regular rushes of adrenaline. After winning a slalom race, the two, a long with dad's girlfriend, Sandra, have to go back home, but since the trophy is being awarded the next day, plan on renting a small plane in order to go back. Norman, whose parents are divorced, used to live on the beach in Topanga, California, with his mother, a school teacher, and her boyfriend Nick, but now lives in Palisades. He doesn't like his new town, which isn't as edgy and exciting, and Nick is sometimes abusive. Setting off with pilot Rob Arnold, the group runs into a storm, and the plane crashes in the cold and snowy mountains. Coming to, Norman realizes that the pilot is dead, and he looks for his father and Sandra. He hears Sandra's voice, and sees his father, who is very still. When he finds Sandra, she confirms that his father has died, and the two try to stay warm while they decide whether to stay put or to try to come down off the mountain. Sandra was badly injured, but the two make their way down. With no boots or even gloves, it's tough going, and Sandra eventually falls to her death. In flashbacks, we see glimpses of Norman's life before the accident as he continues his grim journey. Eventually, he makes it to a meadow, and is found by a teenager near Mt. Badly Village. A brief epilogue set a year after the accident discusses Norman's insistence that he be allowed to surf, as it is the only way he can process the tragedy and feel like himself.
Strengths: Survival stories are always popular with my students, with books like Tarshis' I Survived and Johnson's Survivor Diaries seeing frequent circulation. It's was easy to put myself in Norman's well worn Vans and imagine how hard it would have been to navigate the treacherous terrain of the mountains while processing grief. The inclusion of Norman's other pursuits like surfing and skiing make it clear that he had more skills than most to make this journey, and flashbacks to his troubled home life point out a root cause of his grit and resilience. His warm relationships with most of the adults in his life, especially his mother's friend, Eleanor, were nice to see. The book reads quickly, and would be an interesting choice for a school book project. (Three different teachers have assigned these in my school, so I have been thinking a lot about books that would be enjoyable for this task.)
Weaknesses: There were many, many flashbacks, and they slowed down the pace of the story in an odd way. My students often struggle to understand this narrative style, and the jumps in time were especially hard to follow in this story. This seems to be based on Ollestad's 2009 Crazy for the Storm, and I'm curious as to how that title was adapted for young readers. Kiely's background in writing young adult fiction is evident; middle grade writing is just very different.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy Tod Olson's Lost In series, especially the Lost in the Amazon, which is based on a real life plance crash in the early 1970s.
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