Nature Survival Fiction

When you think of Aesop's Fables, you probably think of "The Tortoise and the Hare" or "Country Mouse and City Mouse". In this collection, Rob Cleveland brings you three of Aesop's lesser-known but equally powerful fables. You will learn why bats fly at night, why you should pick your friends carefully, and why even a tiny ant could be your guardian angel.

A civil war rages between the Glorious Path - a militant religion based on the teachings of a former US soldier - and what's left of the US government. Fifteen-year-old Callum Roe and his younger brother, James, were captured and forced to convert six years ago. Cal has been working in the Path's dog kennels, and is very close to becoming one of the Path's deadliest secret agents.

In 1848 in Barrow, Alaska, a young Eskimo boy witnesses a rare sight - the birth of a bowhead, or ice whale, that he calls Siku. But when he unwittingly guides Yankee whalers to a pod of bowhead whales, all the whales are killed. For this act, the boy receives a curse of banishment. Through the generations, this curse is handed down. Siku, the ice whale, returns year after year, in reality and dreams, to haunt each descendant. The curse is finally broken when a daughter recognizes and saves the whale, and he in turn saves her.

Abby knows that Tam, her Shetland sheepdog, is her north star, and she’s pretty certain she’s his, too. But when an accident separates Abby and Tam, it feels as though all the stars have fallen out of the sky and nothing will ever be right again. As the days between them turn to weeks, then months, dangers and changes fill up Abby’s and Tam’s lives. Will they ever find their way home to each other?

Tallulah the spider and her friend Buck the horse live in a meadow at the edge of the Old Forest. One day a dark and dense fog creeps into the Meadow, and Buck enters a deep and dreamless sleep. The very life of the Meadow is threatened. Tallulah doesn’t know how to help her friend until a tiny magical bird tells her the secret of how she can fly.

A boy and his elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village immediately after the Vietnam war.

Oscar is a happy dogg - a rambunctious kid who loves being a Dogg Scout. Molly is a clever katt who just knows she's destined for fame and fortune as an actress. For their whole lives, Oscar and Molly have been told that katts and doggs hate each other. One day, they each get hopelessly lost in the woods, but those lifelong prejudices flare up when they cross paths. Slowly, they realize the only way to survive and find their way home is to...work together?

Natalia is not the kind of girl who takes risks. Six years ago, she barely survived the house fire that killed her baby brother. Now she is cautious and always plays it safe. For months, her coworker Wyatt has begged her to come hiking with him, and Natalia finally agrees. But when a wildfire breaks out, blocking the trail back, a perfect sunny day quickly morphs into a nightmare. With no cell service, few supplies, and no clear way out of the burning forest, a group of strangers will have to become allies if they're going to survive.

Just as Martine is settling into life on the wildlife game reserve, she is whisked away on a school trip. Her class is going on an ocean voyage to witness the Sardine Run, a spectacular natural phenomenon, off the coast of South Africa. What begins as an exciting adventure quickly turns perilous when a storm blows up and Martine and her classmates are thrown overboard into shark-infested waters. They are saved by a pod of dolphins, only to end up marooned on a deserted island.

The world’s shark population is in trouble for a sad, simple reason: shark fin soup. And although it’s illegal, poachers have been targeting Florida’s biannual migration of blacktip sharks. Marine biologist Doc Ford needs some assistance protecting the sharks and enlists the help of three kids - Luke, Maribel, and Sabina. Luke is brand-new to Florida from the Midwest; sisters Maribel and Sabina have only recently arrived from Cuba - and all three feel like fish out of water. It’s going to take some convincing for them to work as a team.

Newbery Honor author Rodman Philbrick presents a gripping yet poignant novel about a 12-year-old boy and his dog who become trapped in New Orleans during the horrors of Hurricane Katrina. Zane Dupree is a charismatic 12-year-old boy of mixed race visiting a relative in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hits. Unexpectedly separated from all family, Zane and his dog experience the terror of Katrina's wind, rain, and horrific flooding.

In the deadly chaos of the First World War, one horse witnesses the reality of battle from both sides of the trenches. Bombarded by artillery, with bullets knocking riders from his back, Joey tells a powerful story of the truest friendships surviving in terrible times. One horse has the seen the best and the worst of humanity. The power of war and the beauty of peace. This is his story.

Hero, a retired search-and-rescue dog, is not prepared for a stray puppy to come into his life. But when he and 12-year-old Ben find Scout injured and afraid, the new addition leads them down an unexpected and dangerous path. When Scout goes missing, it's up to Hero to use his search-and-rescue skills to find Scout and bring him home.

When a devastating earthquake hits Evie's hometown of Parnassus on New Zealand's South Island, she and the rest of the town are forced to evacuate. Evie's injured mum is one of the first to be rescued by helicopter, and Evie will be next. But when realises that she will be forced to leave her beloved pony, Gus, her dog, Jock, and her cat, Moxy, behind, she is determined to find another way.

Erik Carlson's life is going great. He's just passed his Hunter Safety Course and is scheduled to make his first hunting trip with his best friend, Patrick, that very weekend. His plans are shattered by the news that his parents, who are Army Reservists, have been unexpectedly called for duty in Iraq. With almost no warning, Erik is shipped off to North Dakota to stay with grandparents he barely knows. Though his grandmother is warm and welcoming, his grandfather, Big Darrell, is cold, gruff, and distant.

As bloody battle rages on between the two surviving dinosaur kingdoms, Eleri and his fellow outcasts, newly exiled from their herds, are searching for evidence to prove a mass conspiracy—a conniving cabal of carnivores have manipulated the herbivore kingdoms into war, so they can feast on the slain. But after their temporary home is discovered by a vengeful pack of raptors, the exiles must flee and soon find themselves trapped inside the Fire Peak: the volcanic heart of the dreaded Carrion Kingdom.

Aran has never truly fit in with his selkie clan. He was born in his human form, without a pelt to transform him into a sleek, strong seal. Each day he waits, left behind while his selkie family explores the deep ocean. What if his pelt never comes? Does the Moon even see him? Is he putting his clan at risk? When his mother undertakes a journey to the far north to seek help, Aran is left in the care of a reclusive human woman on remote Spindle Island. Life on land is full of more wonders - and more dangers - than Aran could have ever imagined.

Against all odds, cubs Stellan, Jytte, Third, and Froya have found the key hidden inside the legendary Den of Forever Frost. Now, they have everything they need to destroy the dangerous ice clock. Everything . . . except an army. The power-hungry Grand Patek will stop at nothing to protect the clock, the source of his authority. And so, it's up to the cubs to convince the animals of Ga'Hoole to join the fight - a journey that'll take them from the fabled owl parliament to the rugged territory of the wolves of the beyond.

Out in the mountains, Zack and his friend, Uta, discover what they think is a large fossilized dinosaur egg. This could make their fortune! Zack takes it home to keep it safe. Only the egg isn't fossilized - it's hatching! And there's an angry mother dinosaur out there, who wants her baby back. Includes a full lenght fascinating interview with the author, Paul Zindel.

Welcome to the bone chilling, pulse-pounding world of PIGGY, the survival-horror game that will keep you up at night. With the Infected hot on their heels and growing in number, a small band of survivors must come together and try to stop their island from being overrun. But is there really a cure for whatever is turning people into mindless monsters? Or are they too late to save anyone at all?