I've always had an interest in the Donner Party disaster and have read many other books on the subject. This one is a beautifully written fictional account of the tragedy. using various forms of poetry, mostly free verse. I think YAs and new adults will enjoy the read. Anyone new to the tale will find it intriguing. Sad side story of western expansion. Too many dumb mistakes cost lots of lives.

TO STAY ALIVE by Skila Brown tells the story of Mary Ann Graves and the tragic Donner Party.

Set in 1846, this young adult novel tells the fictionalized story of a young survivor of the Donner Party. Based on the real people, places, and events, Brown uses a novel-in-verse approach to share the hardships of the journey West.

Librarians will find this well-researched novel to be a nice companion to the many nonfiction works about the Donner Party already found in the library collection. Work with history teachers to create a class reading list that includes the growing number of historical novels-in-verse now available for middle and high school students. Students who enjoy books about survival will find this haunting, historical work to be a sober change of pace from other adventure stories.

Published by Candlewick on October 11, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

I had high hopes for this book. A middle grade/YA title on the Donner Party was intriguing. But your enjoyment of this book is going to be solely determined by how much you enjoy poetry. The book is separated into seasons, and then the entire book is written in poem form. I actually thought it was how the book started, and then kept flipping forward expecting it to switch to prose, but it is poetry through the entire thing until the end, where there are some endnotes from the author. I appreciate that it is something different, and the poems are well written, but it is not a format I enjoy for an entire book.

This poetic narrative tells of the Donner Party through the eyes of Mary Ann Graves. The poetry was well done and captured the mood and actions of the story. I doubt I will buy it for my library due to the inherent violence and of course the cannibalism. I felt it was a bit too stark for my particular audience.