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    The Skeleton Tree
    The Skeleton Tree
    The Skeleton Tree
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Skeleton Tree

    Written by Iain Lawrence

    Narrated by Christopher Gebauer

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Award-winning author Iain Lawrence presents this modern-day adventure and classic in the making, in the vein of The Call of the Wild, Hatchet, and The Cay. Less than forty-eight hours after twelve-year-old Chris sets off on a sailing trip down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly, they've got to forage, fish, and scavenge the shore for supplies. Chris likes the company of a curious, friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive. Because as the days get colder and the salmon migration ends, survival will take more than sheer force of will. Eventually, in the wilderness of Alaska, the boys discover an improbable bond-and the compassion that might truly be the path to rescue.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 5, 2016
    ISBN9781501905117
    The Skeleton Tree

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    Reviews for The Skeleton Tree

    4/5

    52 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The back cover compares this book to Lord of the Flies but that is not a comparison I would make beyond the story of survival. Lord of the Flies felt more sinister to me, but I am reading these 20 years apart. I enjoyed this book. The author spends even time between developing the two very different boys and their dynamic relationship, and on their efforts to survive their situation.The books felt realistic, even with the elements of the supernatural, and as someone who lives on the West Coast and just recently visited Alaska, it was neat to compare what I heard with what the author writes about.I'm not the best judge of youth reading, but I feel this book would do well for someone who is detail oriented and more mature. There is a lot of little content in this book that adds to the primary storyline. I would also recommend reading the author's note after the story where Lawrence describes some of his own experiences that came out in the writing.
    • 5/5
      This book is like an updated Lost in the Barrens and just as good as that Farley Mowat classic. I've never read anything by Iain Lawrence before but I see that his book, Gemini Summer, appears on the CBC list of 100 Young Adult Books That Make You Proud to be Canadian. He won a Governor General's Award for that book so I may have to pick it up. Chris is about 12 years old and his father had died recently. His father's brother, Uncle Jack, had been his hero because he did exciting things so when he proposed that Chris come up to Kodiak, Alaska and help him sail his boat home to Vancouver Chris is eager to go. When he gets there he finds that an older boy, Frank, is also on board. Uncle Jack is eager to get started and tells Chris he will explain Frank's story once they are underway. Unfortunately, the boat capsizes and Uncle Jack is drowned before he can make that explanation. So Frank and Chris are stranded somewhere on the Alaska coast with no supplies and no way of signalling for help. Frank knows a little about foraging for food and they find an abandoned cabin that they can shelter in so they can survive until winter sets in. Chris makes friends with a raven which hangs around the cabin. On the other hand, there is a grizzly bear that considers the cabin in his territory and he wants the boys destroyed. Will the elements or the bear cause the end for the boys? I found I had to stay up late to read to the ending to find out. I did figure out the central mystery about Frank well before it was revealed but a younger reader might not. At any rate, it didn't spoil the book for me.
    • 4/5
      I received a free copy of The Skeleton Tree in exchange for an honest review.While reading The Skeleton Tree, it was not hard to remember the adventure story Hatchet by Gary Paulson - lost in the beautiful yet brutal northern North American wilderness. Iain Lawrence has obviously spent time out in the woods for his descriptions of untamed nature made it become the third character. The main two characters are boys that appear to be so different from each other. Somehow these children must find a way to co-exist and survive as they wait to be rescued. Small triumphs seem to be overshadowed by larger misfortunes. The boys grow as they handle each new situation and get to know each other more intimately. The book is an easy read that flows from one page to the next. I also like how the author weaved an ancient First Nation burial site into the story. Beautiful cover!Suitable for grade 4 and up.
    • 5/5
      This book follows the story of two young boys who have been stranded in a remote location after their boat crashes. At first, I found the story to be a bit confusing because the author jumps all over the place rather than following a chronological timeline, but once I got used to it I was able to enjoy the story. It shows the struggles Chris and Frank face as they try to survive the wilderness on their own, and figure out a way to be saved. On top of this, there is tension between the two boys as they try to figure out how to get along and live with each other. Overall, this is a well written novel with plenty of twists and turns that leave the reader wanting to know what happens next. This is a good read for middle school aged kids who love a story with plenty of adventure and mystery.
    • 4/5
      I received The Skeleton Tree, by Iain Lawrence as a participant in the Early Reviewers group on Library Thing. I entered the lottery for this book particularly because I enjoy reading Canadian authors and because it was compared to Gary Paulson’s Hatchet, which I adored as a child. I found it to be fulfilling in all both aspects, as well as exceeding my expectations of character development in a young adult fiction book.Firstly, from my observations, Canadian authors understand the Canadian experience. In other words, I find that Canadian authors get what it’s like to be me in a way that American, European and other authors don’t. I think that, in addition to the familiarity with place that provides a certain realism, it is the witnessing of the Canadian culture that gives me comfort. There is often a quality of genuine humility and self-awareness that pervades the prose, reminding me of our unique brand of social interaction in Canada. Even though the main setting of The Skeleton Tree is set in Alaska, the references to place and life in Vancouver through the main character’s dialogue gives me the feeling that we come from the same world.Second, I want to comment on the comparison of The Skeleton Tree to Hatchet. I fondly remember reading Hatchet with my mom and brother as a child, and not wanting the raw, wild world to come to an end. I wondered what the Great North would be like from another perspective within the same genre of fiction and hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a rewrite. Though the premise of the book is very similar, the added dimension of a second main character and the family dynamic puzzle is enough to make Lawrence’s book an engaging new story.More than any other aspect of the book, I am surprised and delighted by the character development. So often, young adult fiction characters mimic the common social roles: the jerk, the goody-goody, the scaredy cat, the wild child, etc., without much crossover. But Frank and especially Chris are multidimensional. Rather than stereotypical character foils, the way that the boys are written shows the complex interwoven aspects of confidence and insecurities with how they’ve learned to cope with adversity.Frank, for example, initially appears as contemptuous and apathetic, clearly ungrateful of his seemingly perfect child hood. But, as the story develops, it becomes clear that his persona is a skillful cover-up for his pain and insecurities. Not an entirely out of the box character profile, but authentic in its own way. Chris, however, an obviously insecure, approval seeking, good boy, reaches deeply into himself through the challenges he faces exposed to the raw wilderness of Alaska. His tenuous hold on his independence is undermined by Frank’s callousness, but somehow, he doesn’t harden. Instead he remains exposed, experiencing his feelings, even his rage nakedly before Frank. His values, incidentally common to the ideal Canadian identity: humility, selflessness, understanding and compassion, remain untarnished until the end. I’m not sure whether it was the demands of the wild north, or possibly Lawrence’s own perspective on the world, but through overcoming their predicament, the two become people; men even. I was thoroughly engaged by The Skeleton Tree and found myself, once again, wishing for the world to go on longer. More than that though, indubitably thanks to Iain Lawrence’s representation of the Canadian experience, I found the characters remained in me long after I closed the book. I would rate this book a 4 out of five, and I will (and have already) recommend it to others in my life.
    • 4/5
      12-year old Chris is invited to go sailing with his Uncle Jack in Alaska. When Chris arrives, he is introduced to another boy, Frank, around 15-years old, who is also coming. Unfortunately, their boat sinks and they lose Jack. Chris and Frank are stranded somewhere in Alaska, trying to survive. I really liked this. But, wow, did I hate Frank! What a jerk! I loved Thursday, the smart raven who befriended Chris. I really enjoyed the story, though. I suppose it’s those good stories that make you feel such strong love or hate for the characters, sometimes.
    • 4/5
      While I was a bit over the intended reading age for this book, The Skeleton Tree was an easy enjoyable read. I am a fan of books with a veey small, well written cast of characters and this was definitely one of those. It had a thought out plot which the characters fell into naturally. I got attached to the two main characters very quickly. I have to say that the author wrote the characters incredibly well, but I did find a bit of trouble with pushing the plot forward, it was like you could see the top of the hill but no what was over it. You could tell the plot was trying to go somewhere but it took more time than I thought necessary to get there. By the end of the book I was happy with where the plot went, just wish in it got there in a smoother fashion. This book gave me Touching Spirit Bear vibes, and seems like the perfect kind of thing to read for a novel study, but as someone who read it for pure enjoyment I would definitely still recommended it. It's heartfelt, and an interesting take on the idea of young boys lost in the wilderness. I've read more boring, wilderness survival books than I would like to admit but this one had me wanting to keep reading and once I pass the slow part of the plot hill it was done before I realized it.
    • 4/5
      Iain Lawrence is an imaginative and pithy writer. Typically he writes dark, well-researched historical novels. This novel is a bit more contemporary, but uses as background a significant recent event, the tsunami which hit Japan in 2011. It is less dark than typical, probably because of its contemporary setting and its characters, two well-off, compared to the rest of the world, teenage boys.Frank really was a typical teenage boy, sullen, obnoxious, self-centred, and not really good at much. Chris, the younger boy, was far more interesting, yet far less believable.
    • 4/5
      It’s been a year since the death of 12-year-old Chris’ father when his Uncle Jack invites him on a sailing adventure from Kodiak Alaska to Vancouver, British Columbia. Chris’ excitement is curtailed somewhat when he finds out that they are sharing the adventure with Frank a sullen sarcastic 15-year-old who Chris has never met. When they hit a storm, the boat sinks, Jack is killed, and Chris and Frank find themselves stranded on the coast of Alaska without any provisions or means to contact help.Despite Frank’s clear and seemingly constant animosity towards Chris, the two are forced to work together to either find a way to civilization or, if worse comes to worst, shelter and a food supply to allow them to survive the brutal winter ahead. Fortunately, they discover a derelict cabin and, with the salmon spawning in a river nearby, they have a food supply at least for a while. They also discover a tree with several coffins suspended in its branches, the skeleton tree of the title.Frank seems to know a great deal about survival at least in theory but lacks the patience to carry through with his many plans whether it is creating a fire by rubbing sticks together or building a raft. He also displays a kind of daredevil attitude which can be dangerous especially in their encounters with an aggressive grizzly. Chris, the narrator of this tale, is much more patient and thoughtful but unfortunately has never been taught any survival skills. This lack plus Frank’s belittling makes him feel even more lonely until he befriends a raven he names Thursday who provides him with comfort but who just adds to Frank’s resentment and jealousy. Chris is dependent on Frank’s skills but, when an accident leaves Frank extremely ill, he must set out on his own to try to find help.The Skeleton Tree by author Iain Lawrence is one wild ride of an adventure story. Pitting the two young protagonists against the wild Alaskan wilderness keeps the action and suspense racked up while allowing for growth as the two must learn to work together. The wilderness itself as portrayed by Lawrence is beautiful and beautifully realized – this is nature at its most majestic and most dangerous. The story and the characters are complex and compelling and make the reader care about the outcome.But this is not just a simple adventure tale. It is also about family, grief, the need for forgiveness and to let go of old fears and resentments if one is to move forward to discover one’s own story. The book is aimed at a middle grade audience but it has enough happening to appeal to any age.
    • 3/5
      I received this book as an early review copy. The story was alright but I wish the big secret was revealed a bit earlier. I thought the boys were not acting properly to save themselves but then again how are adolescent boys supposed to react in such a situation. The story reminded me of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
    • 4/5
      I admit that I found this book to be a tough read. I'm not against the book, I just don't like this particular format (survival in the woods, teenage angst etc.,) I have read several versions before (working as I do in a school library), so this was a bit tedious for me. I liked the main protagonist, despised the secondary character, and was relieved when the story was over because that kind of antagonism made me feel nauseous. Which speaks well for what the author was trying to do.
    • 4/5
      Chris has finally has a chance to going on a sailing trip to Alaska with his beloved Uncle Jack. Once on board, Chris meets another boy, Frank who seems distant, argumentative, and disagreeable. Uncle Frank doesn't get a chance to explain the relationship between the boys before their boat sinks and he drowns. Chris manages to save Frank's life and the boys struggle for survival after they barely make it to shore alive.The adventure, mystery and suspense continue to build throughout the story in very real, believable ways. Lawrence does an excellent job portraying the relationship between the two boys and anyone who knows teenage boys will recognize the accuracy of dialogue between them! This book was an interesting read; using a variety of unique twists, turns, situations and sub plots to keep the story line spooky, suspenseful and moving forward.
    • 5/5
      Reluctantly given permission by his mother to sail with his Uncle Jack down the Alaska coast, 12-year-old Chris soon finds himself shipwrecked on a deserted island with a boy, Frank, who is a couple of years older and who carries a big chip on his shoulder. This is the story of how the two boys survive in an abandoned cabin with the help of a raven named Thursday, and how they mature to respect nature and each other.
    • 5/5
      This is a captivating survival story of two young boys who become shipwrecked on the shores of Alaska. They are like oil and water, but have to overcome differences in order to survive. For those who loved Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet. This is a J title, but a good one for the whole family.
    • 4/5
      This was a good adventure/survival story . Great for students that like books by Gary Paulsen, Will Hobbs, or Watt Key's Alabama Moon.