Unfortunately I am not able to send a review for this book. I managed to read a couple of chapters until I realised that this book was not for me. It would not be fair for me to continue to read as my review would not be a true reflection of this book.

Middle-schoolers Jocelyn and Alex have been friends for years, but things change the summer before 8th grade. Alex makes a new friend who happens to be popular and as a result, she starts to see her forever friend Jocelyn through critical eyes.

Every summer the two girls and their families spend time at a cabin in Wisconsin. This summer, the strained friendship wreaks havoc with old traditions. What starts as a lazy river float with the families ends in a literal survival story for Jocelyn and Alex.

Through a series of mishaps, the two girls initially end up in the woods trying to find access to the river. However, they end up spending days and nights in the wilderness without proper clothing, food or any other gear necessary for staying alive.

Alone in the Woods by Rebecca Behrens is not a book of clever survival hacks and Bear Gryls technics. It’s a primer for what really happens you’re ill-prepared to be in a forest.

eGalley provided by NetGalley

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the switching perspectives throughout the read. The reader gets to read about Jocelyn’s present-day perspective, which gives us a good idea of the type of person she is. Then, periodically, the author switches to Alex’s perspective of events that lead up to their close friendship growing apart. Both perspectives give readers the chance to learn about the two girls, their thoughts, and feelings.

While getting to know each protagonist, the author provoked some of my feelings toward the two. I felt sympathy toward sweet Jocelyn while I was impatient and even annoyed with Alex for most of the book. However, reflecting back both personalities and the decisions they make are very realistic for preteens. Some preteens just want their best friends to stay the same, while others want to be accepted by more of their classmates, especially if these classmates are considered “cool.” It was also great to see that even Alex’s decisions, she also had some guilt toward some of her actions. This part of her is also very realistic.

Looking at the plot, I found myself interested the entire time while reading. Perhaps it’s because I work with preteens or because the way the author wrote the story, but I really wanted to know what happened to these two girls’ seemingly strong friendship. Then, when the two become lost together in the woods, it was extremely easy to picture the difficulties and frightening moments they experienced together. I could visualize what the girls were seeing and experiencing (the weather, the bugs, thirst, hunger, injuries, wild animals, etc.), so much so that I would never want to get lost in the woods…

The arch of Alex and Jocelyn’s friendship was done well. The author clearly shows that they had a strong friendship prior to the events of the story by using memories and Alex’s past perspective chapters. Then, the struggle the two face as their families go on their annual end-of-summer vacation seemed realistic. Lastly, when they had to rely on each other for survival, and their barriers started to break, it was something I appreciated reading.

Overall, Alone in the Woods was a book that I simply enjoyed. Not only can I see middle grade readers enjoying the read, but also relating to the friendship struggles Jocelyn and Alex go through. I would recommend this book to preteens who enjoy a read about friendship and survival in the woods.

Thank you to the NetGalley and Sourcebooks Young Readers for giving me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Alone in the Woods. My opinions are my own.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! I’ve developed a huge love for the outdoors since moving to Washington, so this book was right up my alley. Rebecca Behrens also did a fantastic job showing the struggles of changing friendship in middle school and junior high.

Alone in the Woods is a MUST READ for your survival adventure fans! The suspense doesn’t let up throughout the entire book. The friendship story at the heart of it keeps tugging at your heartstrings while the danger and worry grab at you as well. The whole way through it makes you question what you would do in a similar situation. Would you make different choices? Would you be able to do what they are doing? Will they actually survive? So many questions to ponder while reading this book. Though stressful, it was a pleasure to read. It will be another one of those books that each reader who picks it up won’t be able to put down until they finish reading it and pass it into the hands of another reader.

Lost in the Words by Rebecca Behrens is a middle grade novel about survival and friendship.

Jocelyn and Alex have been friends since they were young children, but during the summer before this novel starts they had a breakup in their friendship. This is a realistic and sad reality that is often overshadowed in fiction in favor of romantic breakups, so I enjoyed that representation. Jocelyn pointed out all the little ways that Alex had changed over the summer after being away at camp and not seeing her for the whole summer.

I loved this novel and raced through it because I wanted to know how they would survive, but the character of Alex frustrated me a lot.I wanted to say that this was because the novel was from Jocelyn's point of view, and Jocelyn currently has a negative view of her friend. But even when we see from Alex's point of view, I couldn't agree with her actions. I suppose I had hoped that there were going to be two sides to the story of the friend breakup, but Alex was clearly in the wrong, in my opinion, and didn't have a right to treat Jocelyn that way. Though they did forgive each other and Alex acknowledged that she was in the wrong, there were points in the novel where I in no way wanted Jocelyn to forgive Alex.

Though it was frustrating to watch them walk into the forest when they should have stayed by the edge of the river, I also understand that there wouldn't have been a novel that way, and that they are also young kids.

I really enjoyed the writing style, and each of the characters felt fully formed with little things that they liked, even the side characters. I will be recommending this book at my library to any kids that want more survival books, books about friendship or wilderness, and think it will be an excellent addition to our shelves.

This was a cute, fun, and engrossing MG read that I would highly recommend adding to classroom libraries for middle school students. The problems and solutions felt realistic and I really enjoyed the characters as well.

Rebecca Behrens always keeps me on the edge of my seat while reading. Once I start one of her novels, I don't want to put it down and am sad when the end happens. Alone in the Woods was no different. I had to know what was going to happen next in this action-packed middle grade novel about survival, adventure, friendships, "cool kids", change and just making it through.
Joss and Alex have been best friends for forever, but when middle school hits, they both have different ideas about school, friendship and pretty much everything. Their families are still best friends and travel to the Northwoods of Wisconsin together and the two have to figure it out. As soon as they get separated from their group, you won't want to stop turning pages until the adventure is complete.

This is an interesting take on the classic story of surviving with what you know, out int he woods. It is not two friends that get separated from their family but two former friends.

As the story progresses, we learn why they are no longer friends, and what happened, all while they try to survive in the woods with little in the way of supplies.

The author said she has been in these wood, so she knows of where she speaks.

A good adventure story, so good that I took a longer than usual lunch break to finish it.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

There's only one thing worse than 'breaking up' with your best friend: Getting stranded in the woods with her.

ALONE IN THE WOODS does exactly what it says on the box; it follows the tumultuous relationship of two girls, Jocelyn and Alex, as they find themselves alone in (you guessed it) the woods. It's a survival tale, but it's also a timelessly relatable exploration of how growing up can fracture even the strongest of friendships. Jocelyn is happy to follow childhood traditions and wear her passions openly; Alex, however, craves the glamour and popularity of 'cooler' kids. Told in alternating POVs, Rebecca Behrens seamlessly blends the tension of being marooned in a national forest with the deeper, more aching hurts of losing a BFF. It's a story of resilience and discovering who you want to be, written in a style that feels both classic and fresh at the same time.

My one complaint is that Alex occasionally felt too much like a stereotype. I love how Behrens allowed the girls to (mild spoiler alert) reconcile whilst accepting Alex's desire for new friends, HOWEVER, during Jocelyn's POV chapters, Alex is infuriatingly shallow & naive. Like, she tries to use mango body spray to warm herself up? I think it's important to recognize girls who are developing new interests in makeup and whatnot, but I think it's equally important not to demonize them for it. For context, my sister is a newly-self-conscious MG'er, but I can't imagine even her most makeup-savvy friends dragging an entire backpack of cosmetics on a tubing trip. And in a life-or-death situation, especially with a former BFF, I can't imagine anyone obstinately refusing to follow basic common sense for the sake of 'coolness.' Combined with some outdated language ("dork" is used an awful lot), I'm worried MG readers will see Alex as more of a caricature than someone they can actually relate to. I get that much of it is necessary to create conflict, but just because Alex is now interested in lip gloss, cosmetics don't have to become her entire personality - something which only seemed to be explored in Alex's own POV chapters. tl;dr: I struggled to reconcile this more nuanced Alex with her ridiculously clueless behavior in Jocelyn's chapters.

This being said, ALONE IN THE WOODS is still a very strong novel, and one I can see appealing to a wide variety of readers. It's exciting, confidently written, and poses an interesting conversation on what it means to grow up & apart. For classrooms that are exploring survival and/or friendship stories, this will be a valuable addition. 3.5/5, rounded up.

🌟🌟🌟✨ 3.5 stars!

The last time I read a middle-grade survival story was probably Hatchet when I was eleven. Mind you, I really enjoyed Brian's tale—but when I heard about Alone in the Woods, which is about two girls in the midst of a best-friendship-breakup, I was PSYCHED.

Jocelyn and Alex have been best friends for almost their whole lives—until Alex comes back from Spanish camp a totally unrecognizable person. Joss hopes that their families' annual trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin will be a chance for them to finally figure out what went wrong... Instead, the two friends find themselves lost, alone, hungry, and hurt in the depths of a national forest.

Alone in the Woods is mostly from Jocelyn's POV in the present day, though a few chapters here and there take place in Alex's head and reveal how the two best friends grew apart. For most of the Jocelyn chapters, I was SO frustrated with how vapid and shallow Alex is portrayed to be: she brings a bag full of makeup when they go tubing, and, at one point, douses herself in mango-scented body spray because it'll "warm her up." As Joss tells it, Alex is more preoccupied with her (broken) cellphone and (chipped) pedicure than with staying alive. Alex whines and pouts and essentially does everything she can to thwart Joss's common sense.

...What???

It felt totally incongruous with the person that Alex is in her own chapters—someone imperfect, but still funny and vibrant. In Jocelyn's chapters, Alex seems unnecessarily petty and superficial, like, to the point of seriously risking her and Joss's wellbeing.

That being said, I thought Alone in the Woods still told a story about friendship I don't see represented nearly enough: that of friends outgrowing each other, and learning to change and adapt—even if that means letting each other go. The ending was particularly bittersweet for me, enough to redeem my previous frustrations with Jocelyn and Alex.

I also loved Rebecca Behrens's descriptions of the Northwoods. Jocelyn's filled with tidbits of knowledge about wolves and bears (which our protags encounter!!), and poison ivy and hypothermia. She knows how to remove ticks in your skin, and that you should build a cairn—mound of stones—to mark places you've been.

This book evoked that sense of awe unique to vast forests—clearings and thickets filled with moss-covered trees, threaded through with rivers and rapids, and populated by bobcats and eagles and snails.

It makes me want to visit the Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest—and when I do, I'll be sure not to find myself alone in the woods.