3 survival stories to read if you loved The Skeleton Tree

Iain Lawrence's YA novelThe Skeleton Tree focuses on the prickly relationship between a pair of boys stranded in the Alaskan wilderness after adeadly shipwreck. A finalist for the 2017 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, the book is a fresh take on some themes that have long been takenup in literature.

Here are three more Canadian young adult survival stories to readif you loved The Skeleton Tree.

• How Iain Lawrence grew his scary middle-grade novel The Skeleton Tree

1. Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush

The graphic novelSusanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush is the result of a long collaboration between the lateCarol Shields,filmmaker Patrick CroweandillustratorSelena Goulding. Crowe met Shields in 1994, when he was interviewing her for a documentary about Susanna Moodie. Together, the pair adapted Moodie'sown 1852memoirRoughing It in the Bush,an account of the British settler's experiences living in the woods of Upper Canada.

• How Patrick Crowe wrote a graphic novel about Susanna Moodie with Carol Shields

Their intention was originally to createa film script based on Moodie's memoir but after Shields' death in 2003, Croweand Gouldingtransformed the story into a graphic novel instead.

• Meet the finalists for the $30K2017 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

2. The Marrow Thievesby Cherie Dimaline

Thisharrowing tale of survival takes place in a world all but destroyed by climate change.Cherie Dimaline's award-winning novelThe Marrow Thievesfocuses on a group of Indigenous people on the run in the woods.With an epidemic of dreamlessness sweeping landthey are being hunted for their bone marrow, which is believed to restore dreams.

• How Cherie Dimaline found hope in a dystopian future

The Marrow Thievesis a futuristic look at what survival might entail in the wake of environmental destructionand resurging colonialism.

3. The Island trilogyby Gordon Korman

A prolific author of kids' lit, Gordon Kormangot his start withThis Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hallwhen he was just 12 years old. He has sincewritten more than80 books for young readers. HisIslandtrilogy Shipwreck,Survival and Escape tells the story of six kids who never wanted to board a boat in the first place, and find themselves on a quest for survival with no adults in sight.

• Gordon Korman on the joy of writing for young readers

In this story of deserted islands, unexpected enemies and dangers none of them could have anticipated,Luke,Charla, Will,Lyssa, J.J.and Ianmust find a way to survive and to get back home.

• Vancouver's TD Kids Book Club partners with students to learn about survival withIainLawrence