Review: Sole Survivor

Written By Norman Ollestad and Brendan Kiely

New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2025. 255 pages.

This is a juvenile biography/memoire about the plane crash that Norman Ollestad survived when he was a sixth grader. The book starts off with Norman wining a skiing competition and heading home to play in a hockey game only to head onto an airplane with his dad, his dad’s girlfriend (Sandra), and the pilot so he could go and claim his trophy for the skiing competition. Only, the plane crashed and the pilot and Norman’s dad were killed. Then when Sandra falls and dies as well, Norman is left as the sole survivor from the plane crash in the San Gabriel Mountains during a snowstorm.

Fans of Hatchet or other adventure novels will love reading how Norman survived this ordeal. And they will be even more impressed with the fact that this is a true story and the person who survived and is still alive today. This book goes over all of Norman’s decisions as to how to move across slick ice so he doesn’t fall, how he dug his fingers into the ice and snow to move across the mountain, and how he ultimately decided to move down to where he saw a road so that someone would hopefully be able to save him. Even though the title gives a hint that Norman ultimately survived, readers will be on the edge of their seats trying to figure out just how he managed it. A great adventure story and a captivating biography for young adventurers.

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