Morel, Alex. Survive. New York, NY: Penguin (Razorbill), 2012. Print. ISBN 9781595145109
Survive is one of the most emotionally intense YA novels I've read in a long time. It's the story of a deeply depressed teenage girl who convinces the staff at her psychiatric facility that she is well enough to travel home on a week-long pass. On the flight to visit her parents, she slips into the airplane bathroom and pours herself a handful of pills. Before she has time to swallow, the plane crashes, and she passes out. She awakes to discover that she is one of only two plane crash survivors. She and her seatmate (a cute mountain climber) are left to struggle for their lives on an uninhabited mountain in the middle of a blizzard.
This psychological adventure story was written by one of my high school classmates, Alex Morel. I don't think that my high school produced any professional athletes, but it did put out some extremely talented published authors: David Fitzpatrick, Eric Boehlert, Suzanne Brockmann, Suzanne Kingsbury, J.M. Steele, Julia M. Usher, and David Allen Sibley.
Sharp: A Memoir. William Morrow & Co, 2012. Print.
Sibley, David. The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Print.
