15 Secrets to Survival by Natalie D. Richards #bookreview #middlegrade #adventure #survivial #thriller

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Title: 15 Secrets to Survival

Author: Natalie D. Richards

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Date: November 7, 2023

Page Count:  379

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

New York Times bestselling author Natalie D. Richards’s middle grade debut about a group of four classmates forced to navigate the wilderness for an extra credit project with nothing but the pages of a survival handbook—and each other—to save them. 

When classmates Baxter, Abigail, Turner and Emerson break a school rule, they’re forced to travel to the middle of nowhere for an extra credit project. They think things can’t get much worse. After all, how will learning to survive in the wilderness help them stay out of trouble in school?


   What starts off as a weekend of team building takes a scary turn when their instructor goes missing and they are given nothing but pages of a survival guide to complete a series of challenges.

     They soon learn the woods around them have unexpected surprises. Will they discover a way to work together to find their teacher and overcome the dangers of winter in the mountains?

     A recommended choice for classroom discussions on earth science and educators looking for survival books for kids.

15 Secrets to Survival by Natalie D. Richards is an adventurous middle grade survival thriller read. The author is making her debut in this market but it’s certainly not her debut novel overall with having several hit young adult thrillers already.

Classmates Baxter, Abigail, Turner and Emerson were put together as a team in school but couldn’t find a way to get along forcing them all to put in extra credit to make up their grade. Next thing the kids know they are packed up and headed off to the Montana mountains for survival training.

Baxter’s Uncle Hornsby lives in a remote cabin and is all set up and ready when the group arrives to begin dishing out survival tips. However, as soon as the adults have headed out the kids begin to question Uncle Hornsby’s methods of “teaching” but it’s when he completely disappears Baxter really begins to worry.

Ok, so I know I am way too old for middle grade novels but every once in a while I just need to pick up something “cute” for an escape. Being familiar with Natalie D. Richards’ young adult thrillers, (which I am also too old for but who’s checking I.D.s, right?) 15 Secrets to Survival caught my attention so I gave it a shot and was glad I did. This was certainly a thrill ride from start to finish with the pages flying by to see if our young group would survive. I felt like I was right there with them freezing my rear off too and tensed up with every new obstacle! Fun story and I will certainly return to this author no matter what age range she writes for next.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Natalie D. Richards won her first writing competition in the second grade with her short story about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes. Sadly her stories were misplaced for a few years in a maze of cubicles and general office drudgery. Sometimes (often) she wrote fiction when she was supposed to be doing other drudgery-related tasks.

Fortunately for her, some of those stories got published.

When she’s not writing a book with hopes of keeping readers up all night turning pages, you can find her falling asleep while reading, pursuing a hobby as a subpar potter, and wrangling her 126 pound (and counting) dog, Wookiee.

A champion of literacy and a frequent public speaker at libraries, schools, and conferences, Natalie lives in Central Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her wonderful family.