Reviews

Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness by Lynn Plourde, Ben Bishop, Donn Fendler

heidisreads's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring tense fast-paced

3.5

Graphic novel memoir about a young man who gets lost from his on a hike up a mountain and ends up on his own for 9 days. Fascinating and entertaining - it was hard to track this down but I’m glad I did. 

briface's review against another edition

3.0

Good juvenile graphic novel based on a persons real survival experience. I enjoyed the art and writing. Would be a good lead in/follow up to Hatchet or other juvenile survival writing. The story was painful to read at times. My thoughts were something like this "No! Do not go off by yourself, why aren't you taking the other trail, I don't care if it's the wrong one, it's a trail! And now you've lost your shoes, oh good, your pants are gone now too... " A good example of what not to do for kids.

kendrarousseau's review against another edition

3.0

I appreciated the true survival story, the images, and especially the inclusion of newspaper articles chronicling the tale of a boy lost on Mount Katahdin for nine days. I didn’t as much enjoy some of the clunkiness of the writing, and I felt that after 60 years, Donn Fendler should have had more awareness of the problematic choices he made. Rather than using his experience as a teachable moment for kids who read this story, he credits prayer and following a stream for his survival without acknowledging that he likely would have been found within a day if he stopped walking away from the search party.

meghan_is_reading's review against another edition

when you get lost in the wilderness stay in one place, don't walk in the damn stream. lucky boy to have survived 9 days with no food, shoes, or pants(!)

drewsim21's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this book so much! It was a great book to start off this year with the graphic novle!
I got this book on my birthday from my uncle and he said I might like this. And boy was he right!

literacydocent's review against another edition

5.0

"As a said at the beginning, I never planned on climbing Katahdin and getting lost...But sometimes life and the Lord have a different plan for you. And when they do, you just have to do the best you can. Trust in yourself, hold onto hope, and believe even if there's no sane reason to believe. You'll be a better person because you did. I know I am."~Donn Fendler

Fantastic graphic novel version of a beloved Maine story. This includes new details from Donn Fendler's memories of being lost for nine days on Mt. Katahdin when he was twelve years old. The illustrations are add a new dimension to his accounting. Students are going to love this one!

bluepigeon's review

4.0

Lost Trail is a graphic adaptation of a famous true story from Maine of a young boy who lost his way climbing Mount Katahdin with his dad and friends. Donn Fendler tells his story, which took place in 1939, including the near-fall down a 400-feet cliff, coming face to face with a bear twice (or two different bears in different occasions), fighting the constant assault of biting flies and bugs, conversing with a chipmunk, praying to his god every day, and finally, after 9 days in the wilderness, finding his way to rescue.

Fendler attributes his rather miraculous survival of this ordeal to his guardian angel and the lord, and so the story is rather spiritual in that sense. In other regards, it is a perfect example of what not to do if you lose sight of the trail in a storm. Despite some boy scout training, Fender made some bad choices, like insisting on going back to find his father instead of staying with his friend, insisting on wandering in a storm, giving up trying to light a fire with metal objects, etc. One very good decision that he stuck to, which I think might have saved his life, was to stick to the river and keep following downstream. As he tells the story, he notes the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned later on, which makes the tale not only exciting, but also educational.

The graphic work of Ben Bishop is vibrant and captures movement as well as mood very well. The mountain, the trees, the river, and the animals are drawn meticulously and bring the story to life.

Recommended for those who like Maine, hiking, and chipmunks.

glyptodonsneeze's review

5.0

I was packing for a two-night camping trip last week and decided I didn't have to worry too much because I could survive two nights in the wilderness without pants: Don Fendler survived nine days in the wilderness pantsless. Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness is a graphic novel of the time twelve-year-old Don was lost on Mount Katahdin. He was hiking up an easy path with his dad and brothers and he and his friend wanted to run ahead. His dad told them to wait at the summit, but a storm broke and Don ran down the mountain to find his dad, lost the trail, circled repeatedly, panicked and went down the wrong way. It took him about a day to get his head together and remember his Boy Scout training, but he was considerably weakened by then and his shoes were torn up enough that he took them off and lost them. He took off his 1930s canvas dungarees because they were too stiff, and lost them in a stream, and survived alone another seven days until he found a couple's hunting lodge. Meanwhile, most of Maine was out looking for him. Stephen King blurbed Lost Trail, and he'll blurb anything as long as it's incredibly good.

http://surfeitofbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-fine-long-book-and-benefits-of-short.html