Curl up with these books:
 Blizzard's Wake. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
Kate Sterling has lost four years of her life to grief and anger. Zeke Dexter has lost four years of his life as well, in jail. In March of 1941, a severe blizzard suddenly hits Bismarck, North Dakota, and while trying to save her stranded father and brother, Kate may be inadvertently helping the man who killed her mother four years before.
 How Angel Peterson Got His Name. Gary Paulsen
In the title story, Angel Peterson decides to break the speed record for skiing, even though there isn't a decent mountain around. Instead, he and his friends enlist a local with a souped-up ride to help them in this hilarious collection of true tales about Paulsen at the age of thirteen. Other stories include bear-wrestling, hang-gliding, bicycle-jumping and skateboarding misadventures.
 Together Apart. Dianne E. Gray
The historic "School Children's Blizzard" of 1888, took the lives of 500 to 1000 Midwesterners. Fourteen-year-old Hannah was lucky enough to survive the storm by hiding in a haystack, but her brothers were not as fortunate. Trying to escape from the guilt of surviving, Hannah goes to work at the home of a wealthy widow with progressive social ideas. There she finds Isaac, who is also trying to make a new life for himself, away from his abusive stepfather. However, the day is coming when they both will have to face their fears.
 Touching the Void. Joe Simpson
Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking his leg. In the hours that followed, darkness fell and a blizzard raged as Yates tried to lower his friend to safety. Finally, Yates was forced to cut the rope, moments before he would have been pulled to his own death. How both men overcame the torments of those harrowing days is an epic tale of fear, suffering, and survival, and a poignant testament to unshakable courage and friendship.
 Gutsy Girls: Young Women Who Dare. Tina Schwager and Michele Schuerger
In the first section, the authors profile 25 young women who have demonstrated considerable mental and physical courage in pursuit of personal challenges. Their adventures range from snowboarding and mountain climbing, to researching Antarctica and home building for Habitat for Humanity. Part two, "How to Be Gutsy Yourself," offers information on getting one's mind and body in shape. Each of these two sections includes "Take Action" suggestions and is also followed by an annotated bibliography of books, organizations, and Web sites.
 Snow White: The Fairest of Them All. Caroline Thompson
When his wife dies in childbirth, hapless woodsman John and his newborn daughter Snow White embark upon a journey that ultimately finds them hopelessly lost in the snowy wastes. Praying for a miracle, John is visited by a spirit who offers to grant him three wishes: Nourishment, a kingdom, and a queen for a wife. The familiar "Snow White" plot takes off from here, complete with Queen Elspeth's efforts to kill Snow White, her rescue at the hands of seven little men and the last-act arrival of the Handsome Prince.
 Into Thin Air. Jon Krakauer
Reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion, Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996. He hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds. This is the terrifying story of what really happened that fateful day at the top of the world, during what would be the deadliest season in the history of Everest.
 Snow Falling on Cedars. David Gutterson
In 1954, a fisherman from San Piedro Island in Puget Sound is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese-American, Kabuo Miyomoto, is charged with his murder. Miyomoto, the dead fisherman and the one-man staff of the local newspaper, Ishmael Chambers, were all scarred by their experiences in World War II. Chambers remains alienated by the loss of an arm and a childhood love, who married Miyomoto. When Chambers comes upon information that could alter the verdict of the trial if presented or change his own life if suppressed it creates a private trial as momentous as the public one.
 The Judges. Elie Wiesel
A plane en route from New York to Tel Aviv is forced down by bad weather. A nearby house provides refuge for five of its passengers: Claudia, who has left her husband; Razziel, a religious teacher who was once a political prisoner; Yoav, an Israeli commando; George, an archivist who is hiding a secret that could bring down a certain politician; and Bruce, a would-be priest turned philanderer. Their host, a man who calls himself simply the Judge, begins to interrogate them, forcing them to divulge the meaning of their lives. Soon he announces that the least worthy of them will die.
 Ice Age. Carlos Saldanha
Twenty thousand years ago, the Earth is overrun by freezing temperatures in an Ice Age that is sending all manner of critters scattering in the path of encroaching glaciers. When a lost human infant is discovered, an unlikely quartet of misfits forms to return it to its mother: Manny, a depressed woolly mammoth; Sid, a fast-talking sloth; an acorn-crazed squirrel named Scrat; and the devilish saber-toothed tiger named Diego. Before they can complete their mission, the reluctant compatriots will brave pits of boiling lava, dangerous caverns of ice, and even a traitorous plot within their midst.
 Dead North. Sue Henry
Homeless and alone in the perilous backwoods of Alaska, musher Jessie Arnold leaps at the chance to drive a friend's Winnebago back from Idaho. Hitting the road will help her recover from the devastating fire that destroyed her home. But when she picks up a teenage runaway, Jessie cannot guess that the terror from which the young man is running will soon catch up to her. Now, in a danger-filled wilderness with only her lead dog, Tank, by her side Jessie faces the ultimate challenge.
 The Woman Who Loved Reindeer. Meredith Ann Pierce
A psychic maiden, Caribou, lives alone outside the village because the people fear her. Unwillingly, she accepts the strange infant born to her sister-in-law by a trangl, a being sometimes a deer and sometimes human. When Caribou's brother shoots the stag that sired the baby and dies himself, his wife vanishes, leaving only the young aunt to mother the child. She names him Reindeer and loves him more as he grows to manhood, even when he reverts to his animal form. With his help she comes to fulfill her destiny as leader of her people.
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