I Am Still Alive

July 16, 2018
Marshall’s striking first novel follows two parts of 16-year-old Jess Cooper’s life: before and after her father is murdered and she’s left to fend for herself in the Canadian wilderness. After her mother dies in a car crash that leaves Jess with a bad foot, she travels from Seattle to Canada to live with her father, who left them years before. He lives in a remote cabin in the woods and attempts to teach Jess survival skills, but she resents him, and they agree that she’ll stay there one year and then decide whether to return home. But she soon discovers that her dad is mixed up with some bad guys, and when they show up to collect their loot, they kill him, leaving her alone with his dog, Bo. To stay alive, Jess must summon great physical and mental strength; she learns to hunt, fish, build fire, and find shelter, but any mistake could be fatal. Marshall builds tension steadily as winter approaches and Jess plots her revenge. The diary format and Marshall’s immersive descriptions will hook readers into this exhilarating survival story. Ages 12–up.

Narrator Amy McFadden's evocative voice guides listeners through protagonist Jess's harrowing ordeal. McFadden conveys the visceral nature of Jess's quest for survival. She's stranded, hurt, and grieving in the remote Canadian wilderness after the unexpected death of her antiestablishment father, who lives off the grid. While there are few characters for McFadden to portray, her gripping delivery expresses the exhaustion, longing, and pain Jess experiences in a story that has been referred to as a cross between Gary Paulsen's HATCHET and Cheryl Strayed's WILD. Listeners are thrown into Jess's predicament, and sensitive teens may have to pause occasionally to process everything the beleaguered main character goes through in her bid to stay alive. S.A.C. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine