This was a great concept and enjoyed the survival element of this book, it had that element that I was wanting and enjoyed from this type of book. The characters were everything that I was hoping for and had that realistic element that I was hoping for. I was invested in what was happening to the characters and thought the writing style worked well from Ann Braden.

Book Review: Into the Rapids by Ann Braden
I am no stranger to Ann Braden’s books. Each of her novels thoughtfully explores different challenges children encounter at school.
The Benefits of Being an Octopus (2018) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Flight of the Puffin (2021) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Opinions and Opossums (2023) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Braden’s newest release, Into the Rapids (2025), takes a refreshing turn by setting the story largely outside the classroom. The protagonist, Addy, has dreamed for years of attending a local day camp—an important place where her parents once met. She looks forward to signing her name beside her father's.
However, a powerful storm hits, cutting off power and isolating Addy and her mother from their community. Addy's mother begins to withdraw emotionally, leaving Addy to navigate the crisis largely on her own. She soon meets a new neighbor, Caleb, a boy also coping with mental health struggles. Despite this, Caleb has a special talent for forming community connections. Their growing friendship pushes Addy toward what becomes her greatest survival challenge yet.
Into the Rapids is a thoughtful and emotional adventure. I would rate it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars. Young readers will be drawn into the bond between Addy and Caleb and will be eager to see how they support one another during a difficult time.

My Favorite Quote from the book:
“Life isn’t some clear-cut line. It’s not a single train that you have to be on as it chugs down a straight track. It’s a web—rippling outward, changing and shifting and reaching others, making them laugh and feel and hoot. It’s a wild ride of a train that I get to be on. And what does life expect in exchange? For me to live as fully as I can.”

Into the Rapids will be available in your favorite bookstore on May 13, 2025. I hope this book finds its way on your summer tbr.

Thank you to @NetGalley, @penguinkids, and @annbradenbooks for the opportunity to read an early copy of #IntotheRapids. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

When a storm looks like it’s ruined Addy’s chances of attending survival camp, Addy must accept help from an unexpected ally if she wants to make it to camp on time.

This sweet story is about coping with grief, accepting help, and taking risks. Perfect for fans of HATCHET, WILDFIRE, and THE CANYON’S EDGE.

I was really excited to read Into the Rapids — just from the cover, an exciting outdoor adventure, and I was hoping for a fast-paced, empowering story. But honestly, it didn’t live up to my expectations.

One of the biggest issues for me was how unrealistic parts of the plot were. The idea that a mother — especially one struggling with depression — would allow her daughter to go off alone to a river camp just didn’t make sense. It pulled me out of the story and made it hard to believe in the characters' choices.

On top of that, the book dealt with some very serious topics, especially the mom’s mental health. While I understand the importance of including tough subjects in middle grade, it felt like too much for this story — especially when I was expecting an uplifting or exciting adventure. The heavier themes ended up overshadowing the plot instead of deepening it.

I think the book had potential, and I appreciate the author trying to tackle big issues, but in the end, it didn’t strike the balance I was hoping for between realism, adventure, and emotional weight.

I absolutely adored Into the Rapids by Ann Braden, a survival story that is about surviving by asking for help and making connections with others, rather than going it alone. AND it's a very reasonable 176 pages. I can see not only adding this to my library shelves, but buying book club sets for our teacher resource room, as well.

Addy has her heart set on attending the same wilderness camp where her parents met. She has been training for a long time to beat her father's wet log fire record. She feels like this might help her feel a connection to her father, who died in a tragic drowning accident when she was a baby. Since the accident, Addy's mother has suffered from extreme depression and anxiety, leaving herself cut off from the small town where she and Addy live.

When disaster strikes, the community bands together, teaching Addy that she doesn't have to go it alone.

In INTO THE RAPIDS, Addy has long been looking forward to—and preparing for—attending the same survival camp where her parents met years before. Her father passed away in a flood when Addy was a baby and she wants to attend to honor his legacy. The week before camp, a severe storm hits Addy’s remote town. The flood damage cuts her community off from the surrounding area and destroys her hopes of attending camp while causing her mother's depression over the loss of Addy's father to resurface. Seeking cell phone reception in the aftermath of the storm to get help for her mother, Addy runs into Caleb, one of her classmates. A friendship begins to develop between the pair as they meet repeatedly and start to open up to one another. When Caleb offers to help Addy reach survival camp, she will have to decide if she is ready to trust him and others in her community to chase her goal.

Addy and Caleb are both relatable characters, each facing their own challenges that they work to overcome throughout the story with help from the other. The author tackles mental health issues (anxiety and depression) and death/grief in ways that are thought-provoking and age-appropriate for middle grade readers. The chapters are quick and the book has a short page count, both of which are often requested by my elementary school readers. Fans of adventure and survival stories will love this powerful read with both action and emotion.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Young Reader's Group for a chance to read an early copy of this book.

I live rurally, our house situated on the river in a mountain community. It's not often I feel so connected with the setting of a story, but as Ann Braden began describing the small mountain community Addy and her mom live in, I was immediately hooked as it felt like "home".

I went into this book a bit blind as it had been a while since reading the description. I knew it was about wilderness survival, but that was about it. I had no idea what I was in for as the story took on twists and turns I wasn't expecting.

Addy's father died in a flash flood when she was a baby. Upon saving her infant child, Addy's mother was determined to live out the life she and her husband had always planned - a rural life of self-sufficiency. Addy and her mom depended on each other and had things pretty much in hand. They were loners - never really connecting with the people in town, but content to keep to themselves.

As the river floods, washing out roads and disconnecting their small town from the rest of the world, cracks in their strong exterior begin to grow as they're forced to come face to face with processing the loss of Addy's dad, and how that has affected them.

Addy slowly finds a friend in her neighbor, Caleb, when she continually sees him at the top of one of her favorite spots. He needs cell reception to coordinate a community search for a missing person, and she is desperately working on her survival skills for the one thing she has wanted to do her whole life: attend the same survival camp her mom and dad went to. As their friendship grows, Addy realizes how important connection and community is and begins to see the real driver of her decisions in life. Maybe it's time to stop letting fear win, and take a few risks, but does she go a little too far?

Into the Rapids tackles challenging topics of loss, facing fears, anxiety, fear of death, depression, and more. Author, Ann Braden, tackles these problems in a very age-appropriate way, tucking away helpful tips and tricks for readers who may be struggling with these issues to discover and implement.

This book was a page turner, and a true gem. It's a great read for kids who struggle with anxiety, love adventure and survival, or simply want to enjoy an engaging story.

Addy’s tragic past has caused she and her mom to isolate themselves and not heal from their grief. The recurring trauma of a storm forces her to expose her vulnerable self to Caleb, who she is leery of already. A wild canoe adventure ensues to help her honor her dad’s memory at a survival camp and it changes everything.

I really enjoyed this MG novel by Ann Braden. This made me think of all those kids that are living in areas decimated by natural disasters. I think there is a big audience of readers who will connect with this story and plight. The narrator is also a very relatable character. I wanted to see things work out for her in the end, which is always an indication of a well-drawn character.

Middle-grade readers are so lucky. Ann Braden has written an adrenaline-pumping, breathtaking book for early teens that also imparts sublime yet evocative values that are important for this generation to imbibe. The writing style is fluid, descriptive, and brilliantly devoid of difficult or hard-to-read sentences, making this apt for the age group.

Thank you, NetGalley for sharing the ARC for review.

This is a lot like an Enid Blyton book, full of adventure, heart, grit, determination, friendship, and soul.

I have been looking into more middle-grade books since my kids are starting to read this range. But what I'm looking for is pretty specific.

Addy's father died in an accident involving some flooding. Her mom is still struggling to cope, even though Addy was pretty young when it happened. Addy and her mother are pretty secluded from others, even though they have next door neighbors with a kid Addy's age. Caleb gave Addy a nickname that has stuck with her throughout elementary school. Addy blames him for making her a laughing stock among her classmates.

When a tropical storm causes the river to flood and the community to lose power, Addy fears that she won't be able to make it to survival camp. But only twelve-year-olds are allowed to go. So this is Addy's only shot. Most of all, she wants to beat her father's time so she can sign her name beside his at the wet fire competition.

Added to Addy's issues is her mother's struggles with coping. Addy has definitely taken more of a parenting role than she needs to. But Addy realized that maybe she and her mom are isolated due to their own choices and not others. Caleb helps Addy realize that she can depend on others and maybe make friends.

I liked Addy a lot. I liked her survival spirit. She faced adversity with an attitude of figuring out what she could do to improve her situation. Those are the lessons I want my kids to be exposed to.

I will say that there were no messages of anti-God, even though the absence of God during such a disaster scenario was glaringly obvious to me.

Favorite quotes:
<blockquote>-Grief is funny like that. In lots of books, when someone dies, everyone's just sad. But in real life, there's a lot of anger, too.</blockquote>
<blockquote>-Like how there's a space between every stimulus and response, and in that space is our freedom to choose how we want to respond.</blockquote>
<blockquote>-And why do I avoid other people? Because I'm fine without them? Or worried they won't like me?</blockquote>

Into the Rapids was a good read that had a lot of good messages. I can easily see myself recommending this book to my kids. Into the Rapids gets 4 Stars. Have you read Into the Rapids? What did you think? Let me know!

I've read all of Ann Braden's other books, and I appreciate her ability to cover deep topics for middle-grades readers. This book explores issues such as depression, anxiety, and death while also discussing the role of coping strategies and therapy. The topics are covered in a healthy and appropriate manner. While the book takes place over just a few days, it is fast-paced. It's definitely a plot-focused book while still providing some character development. Personally, I wished more of the character growth was experienced by the reader, but I don't think that will keep this book from being loved by young readers. Overall, I think that there will be readers who connect with the struggles of the main characters, but I think this book will have wide appeal due to the survival aspects.

The story presented in the book is unconvincing and proposes interesting themes and elements that are poorly handled. The whole experience feels too rushed. Too bad.
Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the advance digital review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Into the Rapids is a unique book that encompasses a lot. It has many topics, a lot of issues, and a somewhat weak plot. Big questions about life and death are philosophically discussed between children. And even though the main character, Addy, is an adult person in a young girl's body, I find myself questioning how realistic this story is. Addy spends a lot of time taking care of her own mother and the household. Mental health issues, especially anxiety and depression, dominate their lives. Addy has little time for herself and has struggled to make friends. But when a power outage paralyzes the neighborhood, she connects with the neighbor boy, Caleb. There are many deep, intelligent conversations between Addy and Caleb, and subjects like natural disasters/climate changes, anxiety, death, and grief are central.

Now onto the plot: Addy's strong desire to attend a survival camp is crushed when the storm destroys the roads and washes away the bridge that could take her there. A lot happens, and everything happens at once. But amidst all the deep dialogue in this book, it's as if the plot fades into the background, leaving us with nothing but philosophical conversations.

I think Into the Rapids can work if you find the right reader. A reader who needs Addy's advice and calm demeanor. But for most children, I think this book might be a bit too much with its serious themes. I might not be the right reader for this book, but I choose to give it three stars. It is a short book, direct and deep. But it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Into the Rapids brings readers to the remote mountain town where 12 year-old Addy and her mother have lived alone since her father died years earlier. Addy and her mother have never really connected with their small town community; even at school Addy is something of an outcast. Now, during the summer before middle school, Addy is hoping to have a new start, beginning with a week at the survival camp where her parents met. When a massive storm cuts off their power and washes out the only bridge into town, Addy has to rely on the survival skills she's practiced and learn to connect with others in order to make it to camp.

Addy is an interesting character, showing emotional maturity in helping her mother when she's having a mental health crisis, but lacking self-awareness in not being able to shed her feelings of being an outcast and not taking ownership of her responsilbilty for her own social isolation. The novel packs an emotional punch in under 200 pages. Readers will relate to the messiness of Addy's reality and the survival element will be a draw for those who might not gravitate toward character-driven stories.

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for providing my review copy. I will recommend this book my middle grade readers who are fans of adventure and outdoor stories!

The last few years has seen a large number of middle grade titles with grief recovery as a theme and Ann Braden (Flight of the Puffin, Benefits of Being an Octopus, Opinions & Opossums) adds hers to that list, but INTO THE RAPIDS is so much more than just a 12 year and her mom still struggling to find a way to live life to its fullest despite the loss of Addy’s dad being when she was just a toddler. Survival after a river floods the area due to torrential rains as well as discovering the importance of friends, leaning on those trusted friends and allowing them to lean on you are all there, and, depending on the heart of the reader, are possibly more paramount than discovering that sharing memories of those we have lost is a way to keep their flame alive inside.

Addy and her mom have always been enough for each other and neither seems to want or need anyone else. But when the storm waters wash away the bridge connecting their small town to vital goods and services, Addy will not be able to attend the survival camp where her parents went and is devastated she won’t be able to connect to her absent father in that way and her mother begins to sink into a depression, the likes of which Addy hasn’t seen in a while. She attempts to find cell service atop a hill near her home where she goes to practice wet campfire lighting, she finds Caleb, a neighbor her age who has not always been too nice. But time brings change and the two learn much that connects them. A canoe trip that is supposed to help Addy reach the all-important survival camp goes awry and she learns just how strong she really is while also recognizing she doesn’t have to do everything by herself.

Loved all the camping, fire-building and canoe scenes with Addy and/or Caleb and know readers will enjoy them as well. The friendship between Addy and Caleb may seem to develop unrealistically fast, but a lot can happen during stressful situations and when big “helps” are experienced between two people and both young people absolutely step up when needed. Strong 4th grade readers through grade 7 are sure to enjoy Into the Rapids and might just learn a thing or two about the outdoors, survival in the woods and water, strategies for dealing with anxiety and grief, and may even begin to think about our need for friendship just a bit more deeply. Text is free of profanity and sexual content and the only violence is that of nature.

For other middle grade reads that are more than only grief recovery, try Forever Ripley by McCall Hoyle w/a faithful dog friend at the heart and Pam Munoz Ryan’s El Niño that adds competitive swimming plus under the sea mythology.

Addy's story is compelling, as she faces her fears (and the fears her mother has instilled in her), however this is much more of an emotional survival story than a physical one. There is some good information about grief, depression, and panic attacks as well as canoeing and starting a fire from wet wood. For grades 4 & up.

While this was a quick and entertaining read, it didn't live up to some of Braden's other works. I found this to be a bit slow and unrealistic in certain ways. The plot and circumstances read as very contrived and forced into existence. Worth reading but not a favorite and would have to find specific students to recommend to.

12-year-old Addy’s father recently passed away in a flash flood. To honor her father’s memory, she talks her mom into letting her go to survival camp. Her plans quickly change when the bridge in and out of town gets washed out. To her surprise, her long-shunned classmate, Caleb, offers to help her find a way to get to survival camp and help her get past her grief and trauma. Will Addy get to her survival camp, or will she find another way to honor her father? Can she find a friend and inclusion in her town?

The plot is well written and endearing. The characters are authentic, well developed, and easy to relate to. Themes of grief, trauma, death, and depression are a bit heavy handed at times and may turn off some readers. Readers who like realistic fiction, dealing with grief, friendship fiction, and survival fiction will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most library collections. Grades 4 to 7, 4 stars.