Personal Response: I really enjoyed reading this book because it kept me hooked and wanting to read more. It taught me how hard it would be to survive in the wild without being prepared. I have enjoyed the outdoors very much and this book was right up my alley. It was very inspirational and motivating to me. I hope to read many more books like this in the near future.

Plot: Lost on a Mountain in Maine was an exciting book about a boys adventure of surviving on a mountain for over 8 days after losing sight of his father on the summit. His father, mountain guide, and friend were hiking to the top of a mountain in Maine after he and his friend got ahead of the other two. Donn, the boy, decided to make his way back to his dad and the mountain guide could catch up. On his way down he took a wrong turn and started in the opposite direction in the dense fog. He frantically tried to yell and find his way back but he kept making himself even more lost. He decided to make home for the night under a tree once he made it to the forest. The next day he decided to cover ground and find his way back but that didn't work. All he did was swat mosquitos and get even more lost. Days and days went by and he never saw anything related to human civilization. Then one day he found an old power line, he followed it to an old cabin. Sadly, there was no one there anymore. Then more days past and he stumbled upon another cabin, but that too was deserted. Then two days later after surviving mosquitos, cuts, and bruises he came up on a cabin that looked to be occupied. An old man came running out of his cabin, but ran back inside. Donn was devastated but the man came back out and rescued him. He brought him inside and took care of him until he could return to his family.

Characterization: Donn was a kid that had a lot of guts to do what he did in his journey. Donn had a lot of determination to get to the top of the mountain before he got lost. Even when Donn got lost he never lost hope, even in the worst of times. He has a great sense of feelings, he can tell when things are not right. Donn now has a story that will be told time and time again. Donn and his story will not be forgotten.

Impacts of Setting: This survival story happened about 75 years back. This means that there wasn't any technology capable to locate and rescue Donn like there is now days. This survival journey happened on Mt. Katahdin in Maine. It is a dangerous mountain with unforgiving terrain that can get you lost and separated from human civilization in a heartbeat. That is what happened to Donn but, he survived and left an inspiring story behind.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to almost anyone over the age of 10. I think boys would like this book more because it is about the woods and survival. It was an exciting book with many unexpected twists and turns. I like books with adventure, survival, and twists and turns, so this book was just for me! It had many events that are brutal but there were some that make the reader feel peace and wanting to go out to the woods too!

This story is unbelievable but actually true. A 12-year-old boy got lost when hiking with his dad, brothers, and a friend near Mt Katahdin (at the end of the Appalachian trail). It is amazing how easily you can get lost hiking. Donn Fendler survived for 9 days in some of the worst conditions imaginable.

I've been meaning to read this since the movie came out last year, finally sat down to do it.

It's a straightforward account of the nine days Donn Fendler spent lost on a mountain (in Maine), and what he did to survive, running on no food except the occasional strawberry, and losing his sneakers and pants along the way.

It was an amazing story, honestly, when you consider he was only twelve years old and he managed to survive all on his own, despite the harsh elements, mosquitos, bears and awfully jagged rocks that cut up not only his feet, but the paws of the search and rescue dogs as well.

You can tell he was a kid, because of the words used, and the way he describes his thoughts at the time, it's incredible he managed to keep it together for so long. A lot of adults wouldn't be able to.

In the afterword, we get to see what his family and the rescue teams were doing while he was lost, and there are pictures of the mountain, and the rescue throughout the book.

I hope I'll like the movie just as much, I'd recommend this if you're a fan of survival stories.

Not the greatest read-aloud book, but worth the effort. Edit: hearing my eight-year old describing the story a month after we read it gave me a little more appreciation for the target audience.

I picked up this book on a whim because I thought my son might enjoy it (he's interested in Maine, the protagonist is about his age, his dad recently climbed a mountain in New Hampshire in a blizzard).

It's actually a pretty remarkable tale of grit and faith and luck and survival. Really good, I think, for middle grade readers who want something short, accessible, and adventurous. It's like Hatchet, but real. The language is old-fashioned (the author's favorite expression is "Christmas!" which my son didn't understand at first, but now likes to say because he thinks it's funny), but the emotions still feel real. And, the book includes some pictures as well as a map.

This was a very short book to read and was enjoyable since the point of view was that of Donn Fendler, not someone writing it for him. It's remarkable this happened long ago when kids took chances and kept their heads when things didn't go right. Donn almost died from exposure, injuries, infection, and starvation . What he went through was awful but he ultimately followed a stream and after 9 days of roaming the northern Maine woods near Mt Katahdin finally arrived at a cabin and civilization, rescued.

I appreciated that he reported the story just as he remembered it including hallucinations he had. This made it realistic. It's a one hour read and I think there is a movie being made about this. I would like to know how he is doing now, if he still hikes and how his body, especially his toes, has healed.

In 1939, twelve year old Donn Fendler and other members of his family decided to climb to the top of Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine. Donn had climbed ahead of his family with a guide and the guide’s son but at some point decided to go back and meet up with his family. He never found them and was lost for nine days. When he finally made it back to civilization he was covered with insect bites and had lost sixteen pounds.

Remembering his Boy Scout training, Donn found a stream and decided to follow it, hoping it would take him to a town. At night, he curled up between tree roots, covered himself with moss, and ate wild berries. On the second day, tripping as he walked in the stream, he lost his sneakers, which he had tied together and carried over his shoulder. Meanwhile, tracking dogs, rescue planes and volunteers were looking for him.

This book is appropriate for young children in the 8-12 year range. It was written decades ago so it does have an old fashioned writing style. I discovered Donn recently died in 2016 at age 90. This is a fascinating story of a young boy using his knowledge and ingenuity to survive for so long before he was finally rescued.

I've been joking that I read this as a part of studying for my Maine citizenship exam. I've become friends with a lot of Mainers since moving to New England and nearly all of them have mentioned being required to read this book in school growing up. After hearing about it so many times (and being lent a copy by my friend), I was curious enough to give it a shot myself. I'm an avid hiker myself who hopes to summit Katahdin myself in the coming years so the story naturally appealed to me.

Just under 100 pages long, I can totally see how this book would make a great pick for kids who might be tackling their first few cover-to-cover chapter book reads! The story, told from Fendler's POV as his younger self, is easy-to-follow and very compelling. The details of his survival story are appropriately scary for a book intended for children 8-12. There's nothing too gruesome, but there's still an element of real direness to his story. We struggle along with Fendler as he deals with incessantly biting insects, sleeping on the ground with limited shelter, and having to walk miles barefoot day after day.

I remember reading survival stories like this in elementary and middle school (Hatchet, The Call of the Wild) and being riveted by them. I think it's so cool that kids in Maine had an opportunity to read such a gripping story about a place that was local to them. I've heard that Fendler spent countless hours visiting schools and answering students' questions, which is really amazing too. I think it's great to kids to read about other, real-life kids going through difficult times and overcoming them. There's also a lot of lessons to be learned from Fendler's story about wilderness safety and survival, although I think he did a pretty amazing job for a 12-year-old.

As for the book itself, my only critique is that I wish it had had a more detailed map that was drawn to scale! I kept flipping back to the map over and over. I think that the illustrations are really great, but I wish they were overlaid on an actual map. The distance that Fendler covers is truly incredible and I wish the map more clearly captured the enormity of his feat. I think that level of additional detail wouldn't be too inaccessible to young readers.

An amazing true story of a 12 year old boy. Told in his own words, this short book recounts day by day his experience being lost for 9 days in the rugged mountain wilderness.

very cool book

This is an amazing true story of a twelve-year-old boy who climbed to the top of Maine's tallest mountain, only to get lost during his descent.
During the summer of 1939 Donn Fendler climbed to the peak of Katahdin in Baxter State Park with his father and brothers. Ready to return to civilization before his fellow hikers, Donn made an almost fatal mistake: he started down the mountain alone.
It was a fine summer's day, so what harm could come to him? But native Mainers know that the weather, especially on a mountaintop, can change in a minute. Donn discovered this shortly thereafter. Others have died from making this same error in judgement.
Still, he was a child with great optimism.
Perhaps it was this, or his Boy Scout training, that got him through the nine day ordeal that followed. Young Fendler was exposed to many dangerous elements in the wild.
When searchers feared Donn's demise, he fooled them all. I prefer to say no more, but to encourage everyone to read, for themselves, this tale of extraordinary courage and perseverance.
To make the book even more inviting are many photos. There is also a map for readers to follow the young boy's fascinating journey through the wilderness.

Apparently many schoolchildren in Maine still read this short, lovely auto-biographical account of when 12-year old Donn Fendler got lost in the woods for 9 days while descending Mount Katahdin in a storm with his father and brother. But as an adult I especially appreciated Donn's amazing story and his viewpoint.

It was 1939, way before hiking gear hit the masses, but lucky for Donn he had Boy Scout training and a heap of good sense. He followed a stream downhill, knowing it will eventually lead to people. This was dense, difficult hiking with no food and gear and he trekked anywhere from 35-85 miles, looking for help. Maine bugs and their short, vicious lives hold a special terror for me so that aspect sounded horrific. It's no spoiler that Donn survived but I still teared up when his ordeal finally ended.