Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice

Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice (Lexile: 860; Reading Level: Grades 3-6) is a book way out of my normal genre.  Erik is a young boy (about 11 or 12, I think) who has just completed a hunter safety course in New York when he discovers his parents have both been chosen for deployment to Iraq.  He then has to move across the country to North Dakota to live with his grandparents.  Life in North Dakota is lonely for Erik, but when he rescues a dog, he thinks it just might be bearable--if he can keep the dog.  When things really turn against him, he decides that he can live by himself out on the North Dakota prairie, and he leaves with the dog on an adventure to fend for himself.  Fans of hunting and survival stories will enjoy Wild Life.  177 pages.

---