RED FOX ROAD

A beautifully written novel about a twelve-year-old girl who becomes stranded alone on a road trip deep in the Oregon wilderness while on a family vacation.

Thirteen-year-old Francie and her parents are on a spring road trip: driving from British Columbia, Canada, to hike in the Grand Canyon. Her mom and dad are fighting because her dad is relying on GPS, while her mom wants to follow a paper map. When GPS leads them down an on old logging road, disaster strikes. Their truck hits a rock and wipes out the oil pan. They are stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Francie can't help feeling a little excited, as she'd often imagined how she'd survive if she got stranded in the bush, and now here they are. Her dad sets off to walk for help. Francie and her mom are left on their own, with little food, but that's okay: her dad will be back in a few hours, with help -- and hot chocolate, he promised. But hours go by. And then a day. And then another. Francie relies on her outdoor living lessons and her keen interest in nature for distraction, gathering dandelion leaves and pine needles for tea. Then one morning Francie wakes up all alone.

Frances Greenslade was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, where she grew up with four sisters and one brother playing among the orchards of the Niagara Peninsula. Francie earned an English degree at University of Winnipeg before moving to Vancouver, where she completed an MFA in Creative Writing at UBC in 1992. Francie lives in Penticton, B.C., where she teaches English Literature at Okanagan College. She has published two memoirs and a novel, SHELTER (marebuch 2012: DER DUFT DES REGENS). RED FOX ROAD is her first book for a younger audience.