Age range 9 to 12

When twelve-year-old best friends Jocelyn and Alex head off for a late-summer, joint-family vacation in Wisconsin’s isolated north woods, it’s supposed to be a perfect week of hiking, tubing, campfire s'mores, and stargazing. Except for one big problem: Alex and Jocelyn are no longer friends.

Jocelyn secretly hopes that once they get up north, their friendship will go back to normal. Tension comes to a head the day both families go rafting on the Wolf River and the girls’ tube tears on the rocks. Before they know it, Jocelyn and Alex are separated from their families.

Alex is convinced they should follow the footpath along the river to the meeting place at the end. Even though Jocelyn thinks they should stay put, she follows. Suddenly, they are very, very lost.

Wearing swimsuits and water shoes with only the contents of their soaked backpacks, the girls face threats from biting flies to black bears, poison ivy to hypothermia. Both Jocelyn and Alexis call upon resourcefulness they didn’t know they had in their desperate return to safety. But beyond battling the elements, the girls will have to overcome their fractured friendship if they want to make it out of the woods alive.

‘Fully developed characters and a brisk plot take readers along on a dangerous journey.’ - Kirkus Reviews

‘A compelling and relatable middle school friendship tale for fans of survival stories.’ - School Library Journal

‘In this classic adventure story with the heart of a relationship drama, it’s easy to root for the complex girls and their deep friendship.’ - Booklist