WILDERNESS HACKS

Middle schoolers pull together when a disaster strands them in the Rocky Mountains.

Though he’s just 13, Radley Shaw is a seasoned and occasionally cynical content creator with an outdoors-themed YouTube channel, “Rad Wilderness.” He has the right influencer look, practiced patter, and enough success to have his own manager (Marcos) and tutor (Juliana), a Portuguese-speaking father-and-daughter team. Sadie Hahn, 12, learned serious outdoor skills from her late father, and even though the show is too commercial and inauthentic for her tastes, she tolerates “Rad Wilderness” because her autistic 9-year-old brother, Silas, idolizes Rad. Silas insists that Sadie enter Rad’s contest—he’s seeking someone between ages 12 to 16 to be his tour guide in the Colorado Rockies. Her win allows Silas to meet Rad at a trailhead for staged photo ops, which try Sadie’s patience. Rad and Sadie, who present white, join river guide Chuck for a short rafting excursion, but a natural disaster followed by a terrible accident leaves the young people stranded alone with just their wits and a few supplies. The dual narration helps readers empathize with both leads and ramps up the tension during three days of life-or-death wilderness survival. Debut author Brorsen tempers the adrenaline rush with sensitive explorations of Rad’s ADHD, food anxiety, and influencer pressures, and Sadie’s genetic predisposition to celiac disease, panic attacks, and guilt over her father’s death.

A strong balance of pulse-pounding perils and emotional depth.