Wilderness Hacks

Hatchet meets Survivor in this high-action, humor-filled middle grade adventure about two kids stranded in the wilderness, whose annoyance with each other rivals the roaring rapids and ferocious predators they must face. 12-year-old Sadie Hahn didn't plan to eat grubs on camera to win a contest. And she definitely didn't plan to win first prize-a guest appearance on a Youtube show hosted by America's favorite 13-year-old survivalist Radley Shaw. But she'll do anything to cheer up her little brother Silas, who's too young to qualify. Rad has millions of followers and exactly zero real-life friends, so the contest is a great chance for him to hang out with kids his own age. But it's hate-at-first-sight when Silas throws a wrench in his plan and Sadie decides Rad is just a clueless poser who doesn't know the first thing about survival. Disaster strikes when their scripted rafting trip turns into a real fight for survival. Lost in the mountains, Rad and Sadie must find shelter, build a fire, forage for food and try not to become food for a hungry predator. But can they stop bickering long enough to hack it in the wilderness? And will that be enough to keep them alive?

JOSLIN BRORSEN lives in Oklahoma with her husband and five kids, and loves writing the kind of high-stakes stories that kept her younger self up all night reading with a flashlight. She wants her own children and the next generation of readers to have the same great stories, but with a few added elements she realizes now she was always searching for. Going through childhood with both an invisible disease (Celiac) and an invisible difference (neurodivergence) makes her strive to write books that make kids want to read "just one more chapter," while normalizing neurodivergence and other unseen struggles within its pages. Her ultimate aim is for her readers to realize that each of us is unique, and all of us are equally worthy of being main characters. Wilderness Hacks is her first novel.