I Survived True Stories - Nature Attacks - Four terrifying Tales of Disaster and Survival

I Survived True Stories

by Lauren Tarshis

Gripping true stories of real kids who have survived horrifying disasters from the author of the New York Times-bestselling I Survived series!

The author of the New York Times-bestselling I Survived series brings us four more harrowing true stories of real kids in the midst of horrible disasters.

From 14-year-old Joseph Dunn who was the lone survivor of the Shark Attacks of 1916, to 9-year-old Mike Kramer who, with the help of his quick-thinking parents, survived the Peshtigo fire of 1871 (which took place on the very same day in history as the Great Chicago Fire!), to the 13-year-old girl who survived a terrifying attack by a box jellyfish, this is a collection of unforgettable narrative non-fiction stories of unimaginable destruction -- and, against all odds, survival.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Adventure, Juvenile, History, Science

Hardcover

First published September 29, 2015

About the author

Lauren Tarshis often wonders how she came to spend most of her waking moments thinking about disasters, as the author of the children's historical fiction series "I Survived." Each book takes readers into the heart of history's most thrilling and terrifying events, including the sinking of the Titanic, the Shark Attacks of 1916, Hurricane Katrina, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco earthquake, 9/11, and the Battle of Gettysburg. Writing these books often makes her feel very nervous, as though at any moment a volcano could erupt right outside her window. Then again, she has learned a thing or two about avoiding being eaten by a shark.
Lauren is also the author of the the award-winning Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and its sequel, Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love.

For more information, go to her website: www.LaurenTarshis.com

And check out the I Survived Website: www.Scholastic.com/ISurvived

Reviews

[Abby Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine. I will booktalk it. Kids will read it. It's fine.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for learning and entertainment!

Nature Attacks! (I Survived True Stories #2) by Lauren Tarshis has fascinating stories and lots of photos! I was entertained and learned a few things myself although I was reading for my grandkids!

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Third Grader][Spoil Alerts]

This is a book report for the fourth chapter the invisible monster.

In a bright day of December 2009, 10 year old Rachael and her 13 year old brother Sam were swimming in the Calliope River in Queensland. Rachael was floating in the cool, clear water when suddenly, she felt a burning pain on her legs, and felt like she had been sliced by something sharp. Then, when she looked down, she saw an enormous jelly-fish tangled around her legs and arms.

Rachael's brother run to help her and her parents rushed her to the hospital. No person had ever survived such a severe box jellyfish sting. Dr. Jamie Seymour is a venom biologist, and he described the minor stings as someone slicing your skin with a red-hot knife, and magnify that pain by one hundred. He didn't believe Rachel could survive.

Luckily he was wrong. Doctors were able to restart Rachael's heart beat and got her breathing on her own. Rachael was in the hospital for several weeks. She suffered from some mild memory problems for the first few months she was at home but finally recovered. What saved Rachael's life was likely Rachael's father, who knew CPR.

I feel sad for Rachael that there were no warning signs indicating there were deadly things in the river where Rachael and Sam were swimming. I also feel happy that she was saved. It's good to know that in these days, there were always warning signs to tell if the swimming area is safe or not.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

There seems to be something compelling about hearing disaster stories. Especially if they happen to someone else. And to be honest, I'm no different in that regard. When I think about what it is that draws me to these stories I come up with three reasons: it makes me happy to be living my own life, I admire the determination and courage that often shines through in such stories (not that everyone behaves that way), and I'm looking for ideas for how I could survive if such a thing ever happened to me.

Young readers aren't any different than older readers when it comes to disaster stories. And true disaster stories are especially appealing for some readers. This nonfiction companion to Tarshis's historical fiction series I Survived, takes a look at real disasters that have occurred that involved children. The stories in this second volume of the True Stories series looks at a shark attack, a jellyfish accident, a volcanic eruption and a wildfire. Tarshis briefly shares each story after which she includes some interesting back matter including photographs, historical living, statistics (when available), her sources, and related topics. This book is bound to send students looking for other such stories and more information about these topics and stories. As a librarian, I especially appreciated her explaining about the research she does before writing each story.

[Luann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The shark pulled me into this one, but I stayed for the volcano, the deadliest fire in American history, and the deadly box jellyfish. I found it all very interesting and felt like I learned a lot. I especially liked the pages of extra facts at the end of each section. This is a great nonfiction companion to the I Survived series.

[Amanda Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a very interesting book .i recomend to any people

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little book that showcases in four stories four different dangers encountered by the natural world. I learned things and was made very glad to not need to have survived such scary dangers! The bizarre shark attacks in a New Jersey creek fifteen miles upstream from the Atlantic is recounted and seems too crazy to be true! The Great Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin occurred on the same night as the Great Chicago Fire . I had never heard of Peshtigo , only of the Chicago fire, even though seventeen towns were obliterated and thousands of people perished, way more than the destruction in Chicago. The fire lay waste to an area larger than two Rhode Islands put together. QTwo more astonishing stories round out this informative little book. Once again, a children's book informs so well bringing to light events in history that ought not be forgotten.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

Nice progression for fans of the I Survived series to nonfiction encounters.

I initially grabbed this one because of the sharks attacks of 1916. It is the only true story featured in this collection that Tarshis has written a novel about. Others are tangentially related to books in the I Survived series (I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, 79 A.D., I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871).

Some of the information provided is repeated from the historical fiction novel itself (I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916) but it does expand, telling the real story of Joseph Dunn who survived his encounter with the shark in Matawan Creek, what else was going on at the time (WWI), and what life was like in 1916. It also includes information regarding the debate of whether a great white shark or a bull shark was responsible for the attacks and discusses conversation efforts including some people often connected to scary stories about sharks (Bethany Hamilton, Peter Benchley) being vocal in saving sharks.

I was slightly annoyed by some of the inaccuracies (Very misleading that "Never had there been a proven case of a live person being bitten by a shark" (p. 18) prior to 1916. This statement should be modified with in "temperate waters". Multiple confirmed shark attacks had occurred in Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, and numerous places globally by that time. But I digress.)

The book also details the Peshtigo Fire of 1871. I live in Wisconsin and was fascinated that I'd never heard of this fire that occurred the same night as the Great Chicago Fire. The eruption of Mount Tambora is another little-talked-about event that had a significant impact on global weather patterns.

I also found Rachael Shardlow's encounter with the box jellyfish fascinating. Yay for one of the rare girl survivors highlighted in this series! (Also slightly annoyed John Hoisington's sister's (Sabrina) diary was used as reference material for the impact of the Mount Tambora eruption but John still got the spotlight in the story.)

Overall, a good nonfiction read about real survivors. I found the shark and jellyfish sections most interesting.

[Owen W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"His injuries were so horrific that men standing on the beach vomited in the sand. Dozens of ladies fainted." (20) This quote stuck out to me because it really captures how intense the injury was to Josephs leg. My favorite story of the four stories told in this book was the shark attack story because it was told in very realistic way that made me feel like I was there. In this book you learn about Joseph who was attacked by a shark, John who survived a blizzard caused by a volcano eruption, John who survived the deadliest fire in American History, and Rachael who survived a deadly box jelly fish attack. I liked to read these stories because even though they were scary and sad, all of the people survived to tell about it and I thought that was awesome. Overall the main theme of the book is surviving against all odds. I would recommend this book to any one that likes true stories but not to people that get scared easily. Everyone has challenges in their lives, big and small, but this book shows that even though you have a trial that you think might kill you, you always just have to keep pushing and enjoy the life you have.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I'm so glad my library had this book. I have read the other I Survived True Stories by Lauren Tarshis. So much fascinating information about real events in our past and the kids who survived these events.

The real stories in this book are as follows:

Summer of Terror - The true story of the shark attacks of 1916
The Volcano That Changed the World - The eruption of Mt Tambora 1815
The Bloodred Night - The great Peshtigo Fire of 1871
The Invisible Monster - One girl's encounter with the deadly Box Jellyfish

I read about the shark attacks in 1916 before and was shocked that it was real. The fire in Peshtigo was bigger than the famous Great Chicago fire on the same night in 1871. The Mt Tambora volcano erupted on one side of the world and caused massive climate problems in America, from Virginia to Maine. Also snowstorms and flooding in Europe, and floods in India and frosts across northern China. All this happened in the summer of 1816. When I was a child I was stung by a jellyfish but I can't imagine the amount of pain that Racheal felt when she was stung by the most dangerous jellyfish known to man.

Another great book by the author.

[Marquisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book talks about different shark attacks throughout history. This book is on my favorites list because I enjoyed the way it was written, the book is nicely organized and the visuals make sense. This book is made for a second to fifth grade reader, I believe it is a little too easy for fifth grade but the teacher could decide. The book is nicely written in that it doesn't just give gory details of a shark attack but tells you information about what was going on during the year of the shark attacks and facts about sharks. This books is very informative as well as interesting, I liked that it described horrific events without being to graphic and appropriate for children.

I would use this book as a read aloud or a suggestion as a read during a science project. This book is good for a read aloud because it flows nicely and could be of interest to all the students.

[Cathy Sheetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of an "I Survived..." series. This book had four true stories about different nature attacks. One about a boy surviving a shark attack in 1916 when the shark came up a creek and attacked him in the creek. Another was about a volcanic eruption in 1816 in Indonesia that affected weather for a summer in the U.S. and throughout the world. The third was about a devastating forest fire in 1871 in Peshtigo, WI. The fourth is about a girl who survived a deadly box jellyfish attach in 2000 off the coast of Australia. Each story is followed by several pages of background information about the country, the time period, the events, etc. that pertain to the story.

The kids seem to really like these series. This is a good classroom library addition (and probably others in the series) for 4th through 6th grade.

[Jennifer Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am older than the target audience for this book. (I think I might have enjoyed it more (rated it higher) if I did fall in that target age range.)

This book was on the sale cart at my local library. We'd bought some "I Survived" books for my nephew when he was younger (and I read the ones we got for him after he'd read them). Those have fictional characters who survive real life disasters. I hadn't realized the author also wrote books related to true stories of survivors. That's what this book is.

There are 4 stories in this book:
1. The Shark Attacks of 1916
2. The Eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815
3. The Great Peshtigo (Wisconsin) Fire of 1871
4. An Encounter With the Deadly Box Jellyfish in 2009

After each story, there are pages discussing the times that the event happened or the place where the event happened, giving facts about pertinent parts of the story, etc.

[Spinster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heart-pounding adventure--rare in a kids' nonfiction book. The four terrifying tales: the shark attacks of 1916 (familiar to anyone who read the I Survived book), a volcanic eruption, a deadly forest fire, and a gross jellyfish attack. Well. Maybe not an attack but anyway an Australian girl got tangled up with a jellyfish and almost died.

The volcanic eruption focuses on the effects the volcano had on the global climate. TIL that there was a mass migration of European settlers from New England to the midwest thanks to a volcano erupting in Asia the year before. The volcano's ash cloud was visible in the sky for 3 years. WTF?

The forest fire story: the same night of the great Chicago fire a massive forest in Wisconsin burned, killing hundreds of people. Even sadder was the description of area logging that destroyed one of the world's great forests. Sigh.

[Sandy Sopko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great nonfiction for young readers! I love disaster and survival stories, and these are all true! Tarshis relates the dramatic events in the shark attacks of 1916, the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 that caused the year without a summer here in Ohio and elsewhere, the Peshtigo (WI) fire of 1871, and a deadly encounter with jellyfish in Australia in 2009. Plus the author follows each riveting account with a section of fascinating facts and information. I also love that she cites her sources, gives further reading recommendations, and lists photo credits. Tarshis discusses not only what inspired her to write these four stories, but also how she conducted her research. What a great model for young readers and writers! Highly recommended series.

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining? Yes. Informative? Yes. Likely to make kids fear the ocean? Yes.

So I like that as far as natural disasters go, I learned about two I’d never heard of. Both of which most other people haven’t heard of either.

Most everyone I feel like knows something about the 1916 shark attacks. Yet it always creates this drive (at least for me) to know more. Even though by now I’ve got all the information anyone is ever going to get.

And then we get to the box jellyfish. Which more or less just reminds people, everything in Australia is trying to kill you.

Still, a good way for kids to learn some things.

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, When you read this book you think wow this can not have happened so fast, so scary, and so amazing. I love this book it was astonishing how many people have died in just a few years rather in one year just from nature read this book you will love it. I thought this book was so cool because, there were so many jump scares. you should read read this book if you are into death and recovery.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my 9 year old. The true stories of a shark attack, a box jellyfish, a volcano, and a fire, kind of sucked me in. [Do not read about shark attacks before going swimming]. The author has done her research and you can tell. She brings these true stories to life. I think they are fun for kids to learn facts, and the same applies to adults. It held my attention and I was excited for the next chapter.

[Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the I Survived series and so of course I am going to read the true stories books. This was a good book, but I did prefer the original books. I loved the new stories, but was disappointed in the retelling of one of the I Survived books. I wanted all new stories. The new ones were good and I may try some of the other true stories books.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

1916 shark attacks in a New Jersey River, 1815 deadly volcano eruption that led to a summer with snow, a massive forest fire that wiped out an entire town, and the deadly box jellyfish sting. People survived these events and Lauren Tarshis wrote about them. Interesting and engaging facts.

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book! It was really interesting reading about all the natural disasters. The disasters were really crazy, shark attacks, jelly fish attacks, wars, volcanos and other things. I felt like I could be in the disasters, because the stories inside were told with good detail.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting true stories. Tarshis does an excellent job of sharing factual information gathered from much research into short snippets that’s easy for kids to read and feel overwhelmed by too much information. I learned quite a lot from these four stories!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books was ok.this first story it contained was very good and gripping,the others I later found to be good, but not as good.don’t be put off this book because of this short review which is based entirely off of my interests and opinions though.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read for elementary and middle grade readers - Tarshis revisits some of her historical fiction to detail the true stories that influenced them. She includes other historical images and documents to supplement the stories.

[Gwen Forsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book even though it makes me a little afraid to go in the water now. I liked all of the stories and how they gave a great point of view. I also enjoyed how they gave facts at the end on how you can stay safer.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has four different stories about real people. The four stories are about the Deadly Shark Attacks of 1916, The Great Peshtigo Fire, The Eruption of Mount Tambora and the Venomous Box Jellyfish Attack. They all tell the story of a real person who lived through these nature attacks.
The first section is about the Deadly Shark Attacks of 1916. Joseph Dunn is twelve years old. He is going to visit his aunt who lives in New York City and swim in the Matawan Creek by her house. He went with his fourteen year old brother Michael and their friend Jerry Hollohan.
All three of them race to the creek to see who would be the first to jump in. Joe hopped in with a splash beating his brother and friend.
Right after he had jumped in, a man came to the dock and yelled, “ There’s a shark in the creek!” Michael and Jerry had already gotten out of the water when Joe saw a black shape under him. A couple seconds later, the water around him was red. He was so scared that he didn’t even scream. Luckily, even though Joe was severely injured, he lived. He was the only victim of this shark who lived. Four others were killed.
One of the things that made this story so shocking was the creek was fifteen miles inland from the ocean. At this time, nobody thought that sharks would attack people. They thought that sharks were harmless.
After the attacks, people were killing huge amounts of sharks. One man named Michael Schleissner, found the shark that attacked Joe. It was 7 ½ feet long, but no one knows what type of shark it is. Scientists have been arguing about it for years.
The next story in the book is about the Eruption of Mount Tambora in Sumbawa, Indonesia. Many people don’t know about this volcanic eruption, but they should because affected the weather across the world.
This story is about a ten year old boy named John Hoisington who lives in Vermont on a farm. It was summertime when some crazy weather hit their farm, snow. A foot of snow had fallen on their crops. The snow really affected them because the Hoisington’s ate everything they grew.
At this time, this family had no idea why it was snowing in summer. Little did they know, that it was coming from an eruption 10,000 miles away. The eruption also happened a year before, but since the smoke would hang over Sumbawa for three years, it started to get into the normal clouds which affected weather across the world.
The eruption took place on April 5, 1815 but it erupted again five days later. The second eruption was worse by far. It erupted for three more days after that, making it harder and harder to breathe.
This was the most deadly volcanic eruption in history killing 92,000 people. A majority of the people were killed by starvation because the foods they were growing were ruined by ash and fume.
A year later, more problems broke out. There were floods and snowstorms that destroyed many acres of land. Many people couldn’t feed their families anymore. Some scientists think that these two tragedies were somehow connected.
The next story is about John Kramer and his experience with Wisconsin’s Peshtigo Fire. His family had recently moved to Wisconsin for cheap farmland. There was huge amounts of trees everywhere but lumberjacks chopping down huge amounts of trees to build homes. After a year, the Kramer’s house was finished. Then the fire came. It was started by lumberjacks lighting trees on fire to clear them out of the area.
Mrs. Kramer told John and his brother to stand in the middle of their neighbor’s yard and wait for her and their dad to come and get them.
John’s parents had just gotten out of the house before it exploded. All they managed to grab from their house was a mattress.
John’s parents weren’t going to make it John and his brother. Luckily, there was a well hole that they could climb into. They soaked the mattress in water, hopped in the hole, and pulled the mattress over the hole.
Miraculously they all survived. Others weren’t so lucky. Between 1,000 to 2,500 people died in the fire.
The last story is about ten year old Rachael Shardlow. She was going to swim in a river in Australia.
Suddenly, Rachael felt a stinging pain in her leg. A Box Jellyfish was tangled around her legs and one of her arms. The Box Jellyfish is one of the most deadly jellyfish in the world.
She wasn’t breathing and her father was giving her CPR for eight minutes until they got to the hospital. No one had ever survived a severe jellyfish attack before.
Luckily, she survived, but she had many scars all over her legs and arm.

I rate this book 3 ½ stars out of 5 because it had interesting concepts, but it needed more description to keep you more interested. I also feel it was a bit on the easier side for a chapter book. It had a bunch of pictures which was good and bad. Good, because it was cool to see pictures of the objects in the story. Bad, because I think if you’re trying to read this book, it can be distracting to the reader. I liked this book and I would recommend it to people who are interested in stories that have actually happened to people. If you like nonfiction books, you would like this book.

[Hilarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book with my ten year old, and I think I learned as much as she did. These were fascinating stories from history presented in an engaging manner.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boys (7&5) LOVED this book. They wouldn't let me put it down. I really enjoyed the stories in it as well.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good nonfiction version of the I Survived series!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another recommendation from my nephew...I learned a lot!