Alone

By Megan E. Freeman

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She's alone--left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned. With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten. As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie's most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day.

• Adventure/Survival
• Animal Story
• Novel in Verse
• YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers

Lifeboat 12

Lifeboat 12
by Susan Hood

A group of British children, their escorts, and some sailors struggle to survive in a lifeboat when the ship taking them to safety in Canada is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II. Historical fiction, told in verse.

Other Words for Home

Other Words for Home
by Jasmine Warga

Jude is sent with her mother to the safety of a relative's home in Ohio when their Syrian hometown is overcome by violence. Jude worries for the those left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises. Novel in verse.