Distress Signal

Distress Signal by Mary E. Lambert is a realistic fiction novel with an adventure twist.  This field trip-gone-wrong novel is a fight for survival as 4 kids get separated from their class and lost in the desert.  Distress Signal is 263 pages, so it is a good read for middle schoolers. There are over 30 chapters in the novel, so the chapters are short and the action moves quickly.  The language and content are appropriate for all readers.  These are several factors that may also make this a good read for upper elementary readers as well as middle school readers.  

Lavender is on a field trip with her sixth grade class for a 3-day excursion in the wilderness of the Chiricahua National Monument in the bottom corner of Arizona.  This is the trip all the kids look forward to taking through their elementary school years as a rite of passage into middle school. Normally Lavender would be so excited for the trip to finally come because she loves the outdoors and has just passed her test to operate an amateur "ham" radio.  But one thing has dampened her spirits: a fight with her best friend.  After the recent spring show choir concert, Lavender and her best friend, Marisol, are no longer speaking and Lavender doesn't fully understand what she did to hurt her friend or how to fix it.  Lavender is hoping they can repair their friendship on the trip, but her spirits are crushed when Marisol chooses to sit with someone else on the bus - Rachelle, a student fairly new to their school who Lavender has never been a fan of from the start. Lavender is stuck sitting with John, another boy she barely knows and who seems to have no interest in getting to know her. Barely into the trip, things go very wrong when a flash flood suddenly strikes the ravine Lavender's class is hiking in.  Everyone scatters for safety and when the waters finally subside, Lavender is stuck with Marisol and Rachelle, as well as John from the bus.  The 4 have to find their way back to the group, but not before battling all the elements the desert has to offer: dehydration, terrain, brutal heat, injuries, and wild animals.  The 4 will have to figure out how to put their feelings and frustrations aside to work as a team to get back to their class because their lives now depend on it.  

I would recommend this novel for readers looking for an adventure novel.  Readers who love novels by Gary Paulsen's stories, such as Hatchet, will enjoy this story of survival.  Outdoor lovers will enjoy this read, especially those interested in reading about what being stranded in a desert habitat is like.  While both boys and girls will enjoy this novel, I certainly recommend this novel for girls.  (And there are not many "survival" stories best fit for girls!)  In the story Lavender really struggles with the relationships in her life and that can create difficulty and drama.  This might be great for girls to see how to best navigate the social aspect of middle school as Lavender begins to understand what true friendship REALLY means.