Never Say Die

A survival story for the ages This is one of the most action packed books I have read in awhile. The lessons I learned from Nick, are ones I will remember for most of my life. Nick’s suspenseful journey is memorable as he navigates his way through the harsh weathered, dangerous Canadian arctic. It has strong emotions to highlight important moments, descriptive language to illustrate horrid and beautiful creatures, and lessons about having to make decisions that will have an impact on your life forever. In the end, we learn more about accepting things than anything else. The story takes place in 2014, in the Northwest Territories. Where Nick and his brother are river rafting when disaster strikes. The boat hits a block of ice and the boat is flipped over. They both barely escape with their lives. They are separated, both facing deadly encounters with the River and horrible creatures. All of this time though, Nick’s grandfather is dying and he is trying to get back to him. The book makes you feel. Will Hobbs makes me feel like I could almost feel same amount of amazement as Nick. in the text it says, “To be this close to this white wolf-standing so tall on its legs, with the wind rustling its fur, its curious eyes still taking me in-kind of shook me to the core. This was the most magnificent animal I had seen in my life.” (Pg. 92). The book makes me picture the wolf in the wind, looking at me. The writing is vivid – I’m transported to another time and place. Will Hobbs describes everything so well, I feel as though I too am being attacked by a Grolar Bear. The text says, "The impact felt like I’d been hit by a tumbling boulder. My rifle went flying as I went to the ground. I felt the claws rake my shoulder as the bear tore the pack from my back. I knew I had to get to the boat, and fast, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe." (Pg. 3). This part is so well described, it feels to me that I could almost picture the attack from any angle and still get the same amount of information. The characters feel real, alive, and unique. I feel almost as if Nick goes to my school and that I know him well, so well that I could almost predict his next move. "Don’t give up, you have to find him. Maybe he blacked out and he’s still in the water. If so, you have to pull him out fast. I scanned and scanned and saw nothing.” (Pg.70). I had a feeling that Nick would think this because I know that the motto of his town is “Never Say Die” and that he believed in that deeply. Through all of this, Nick copes with losing his biggest role model. We learn that sometimes you need to take a gamble and do something that might change your life forever. We try to push away thoughts about what might go wrong and live life to its fullest. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars: a must read!

This was a free book for my kindle and sometimes you are afraid because its free its because its a bad read. I enjoyed this book because the writer did good job of describing the situation the boy sometimes was in.

The action is first-rate in this story. It is told in the first person, and the main character's sensations and thought process make it personal and exciting. There is a lot of environmental and wildlife information. There is also danger, and some gruesome content. It's well researched, so the adventures could have really happened.

What an exciting book for middle readers. The reader learns a lot about our environment and the people that live and love living in such a beautiful, but challenging place. The adventure and survival of the two main characters makes it difficult to put this book down!

This book was tough to get through as it said the same thing over and over. Global warming. Climate change. Melting ice. Over and over again. Will Hobbs is great at writing adventure books. The adventure in this book was about 1\10 of the story. Man is negatively effecting the planet. We know this. I guess its important to tell young readers this and make them aware, but it sure makes for a boring book

My students love reading books by Will Hobbs. A few of my students loved reading this for our survival unit.

Really enjoyed the book.

good read