Lost on a Mountain in Maine

I listened to this with my 6 1/2-year-old daughter, and we loved it. The book begins and ends with Fendler himself reading, then fades into a young male reader, which is perfect since the majority of the story is told in first-person, from Fendler's point-of-view (as his 12-year-old self).

His initial worry over finding himself off the trail morphs into fear, and the listener goes right along with him. We worried that he wouldn't find shelter, cheered when he found wild strawberries, and waited tensely to discover if he would be rescued.

We talked about the book when we weren't listening - wondering what would happen next, how would we have reacted, what did he do wrong - and I enjoyed those discussions as much as the book! The only show more "beef" I have with the book? What happened after?!? In the afterword, Fendler talks about the rescuers, and how teachers and students in Maine have been reading the books for years and keeping his story alive, but I'm more interested in the injuries he sustained during his ordeal - how long was his recovery? Did he have any lasting physical effects? Oh, well...

This would be a great book for boys - especially for those between 8 and 11 - but would be appropraite for listening with the whole family.

Recommended. show less

In 1939, at the age of 12, Donn Fendler went on a hike with his dad and brothers to the top of Mt Katahdin, the highest point in Maine, and the second highest on the East Coast. He gets separated from his party (he admits to his own stupidity in wandering off) and spends the next 9 days surviving alone in the wilderness, covering a staggering amount of territory and beating almost impossible odds.
My boyfriend picked up this book after we'd had our own unfortunate incident summiting this peak after an act of similar stupidity (he was using carbide-tipped hiking sticks to brace himself, ended up falling over 20 feet and dislocating three fingers). It was interesting to read about Donn's experiences in the same vicinity, before the trails show more were half as well-marked as they are now.
Donn's frightening adventure was suspenseful, and he and his ghostwriter did a good job of narrating from a 12-year-old's perspective. Donn seems to have made quite the career of telling this story over and over to young people, hopefully preventing some foolhardy youngster from disengaging from his or her party on some future trek. My only complaint (and this is just me) is that Donn is very religious and credits his survival to the Christian god, with quite a lot of this brief tale devoted to the semi-lucid experience and praise thereof. show less

Kearsten says: I listened to this with my 6 1/2-year-old daughter, and we loved it. The book begins and ends with Fendler himself reading, then fades into a young male reader, which is perfect since the majority of the story is told in first-person, from Fendler's point-of-view (as his 12-year-old self).

His initial worry over finding himself off the trail morphs into fear, and the listener goes right along with him. We worried that he wouldn't find shelter, cheered when he found wild strawberries, and waited tensely to discover if he would be rescued.

We talked about the book when we weren't listening - wondering what would happen next, how would we have reacted, what did he do wrong - and I enjoyed those discussions as much as the book! show more The only "beef" I have with the book? What happened after?!? In the afterword, Fendler talks about the rescuers, and how teachers and students in Maine have been reading the books for years and keeping his story alive, but I'm more interested in the injuries he sustained during his ordeal - how long was his recovery? Did he have any lasting physical effects? Oh, well...

This would be a great book for boys - especially for those between 8 and 11 - but would be appropriate for listening with the whole family.

Recommended. show less

Donn has hiked Mount Katahdin, a deceptively dangerous mountain in Maine, with his dad, brothers and family friend. When he and his friend reach the summit, Donn stubbornly wants to go back down the trail to meet his dad, alone. When he gets instantly lost in the fog, his stubborn attitude aids in his survival through 9 terrifying days of mosquitoes, black flies, cold rain, bears, torn-up feet and loneliness. An amazing true story of Donn's 1939 adventure.
Although the language is outdated (he says a lot of "Gosh!" type soft expletives that kids might eye-roll at now) his amazing story is a short, fast page turner. Although you know he survives, you really feel the danger that is around every corner, and can't stop turning the pages. You show more learn a lot about Donn and how to "keep your head". show less

In this true story, Donn Fendler is a twelve-year-old boy in 1939. He is on an expedition to climb Mt. Katahdin, at 5268 feet the highest peak in the state of Maine, with his father, brothers Tom and Ryan, and guide Henry Condon. Henry and Donn run ahead and meet another climber, Charles Austin, minister with the Church of All Nations in New York City, NY. Donn gets cold and decides to find his own way back to camp rather than wait for the rest. Henry cautions him against doing so and remains with Mr. Austin, but Donn leaves anyway. Unfortunately, a thick, fast-moving fog obscures the path. Donn falls down an embankment that hides him from sight. Then he takes a wrong turn that leaves him alone to wander aimlessly for nine days in the show more empty mountain wilderness. Will he make it to his camp or be found by the others?
This book is Donn's own description of his struggles to survive after being separated from his companions, as told to Joseph B. Egan. For years I saw it advertised in the Christian Book Distributors catalogue and finally decided to purchase it to read as a family read aloud. With no food and no shelter, Donn survives by remembering his Boy Scout skills and by drawing on his faith in himself, his family, and God. His shoes and then his feet were cut to shreds on the rough stone outcroppings. He was tormented by insects, encountered a bear, and tumbled in an icy river. His "dungarees" were impossible to walk in, once wet, and he lost them. He suffered from cold, hunger, loneliness, and hallucinations. Toward the end of his ordeal Donn followed telephone wires and a stream, hoping that both would eventually lead him to what civilization there was in the great woods of Maine.
Donn's harrowing story, as told to Joseph Burke Egan, who was an author and I think a journalist, apparently was first published later in 1939 and has been a beloved family and school classic in Maine since that time. Through the years, Fendler himself visited schools and libraries to share his experiences, and generations of Maine children have learned lessons about courage, faith, and will from Lost on a Mountain in Maine. I especially like the way in which Donn emphasizes the fact that he put his trust in God and said his prayers daily for God's protection and deliverance. In 2008, Donn's story wes retold with illustrations by Ben Bishop for a graphic novel entitled Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness, published by Down East Books. I guess that this all right for a generation that doesn't want to read words, except for a few in a cartoon bubble every now and then, bur prefers just to look at pictures. However, we really enjoyed the original and thought it quite exciting. show less

A true story of survival previously unknown to me. It is neat that the prose remains consistent with what 12-yr old Donn Fendler probably actually thought and experienced way back in 1939. What a lucky boy, to have survived 9 days in the vicinity of Mt. Katahdin... when hundreds of searchers were looking in all the wrong places. Young Donn's constant turning to God in prayer throughout the ordeal struck a chord--God is the only one we can turn to in such circumstances.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans were probably tracking the search through the newspapers, and I particularly liked this excerpt:

"For at no time in human life will men find a greater courage in their hearts and in their weary bodies than when in youth, like Donn, they show more are returning home." - Boston Transcript (July 27, 1939) show less

When I checked this audiobook out of the library as a download, I didn't realize it was so small, and actually a kid's book. But I enjoyed it, the rather naive story of a young boy's survival when separated from his family on a mountain hike. It would have been nice to know more about what was going on among the people looking for him, and something about the process of his recovery. Good for kids.