365 Days to Alaska

A thoughtful middle-grade debut about a girl from off-the-grid Alaska adjusting to suburban life
 
Eleven-year-old Rigel Harman loves her life in off-the-grid Alaska. She hunts rabbits, takes correspondence classes through the mail, and plays dominoes with her family in their two-room cabin. She doesnΓÇÖt mind not having electricity or running waterΓÇöinstead, sheΓÇÖs got tall trees, fresh streams, and endless sky.
But then her parents divorce, and Rigel and her sisters have to move with their mom to the Connecticut suburbs to live with a grandmother theyΓÇÖve never met. Rigel hates it in Connecticut. ItΓÇÖs noisy, and crowded, and thereΓÇÖs no real nature. Her only hope is a secret pact that she made with her father: If she can stick it out in Connecticut for one year, heΓÇÖll bring her back home.
At first, surviving the year feels impossible. Middle school is nothing like the wilderness, and she doesnΓÇÖt connect with anyone . . . until she befriends a crow living behind her school. And if this wild creature has made a life for itself in the suburbs, then, just maybe, Rigel can too.
365 Days to Alaska is a wise and funny debut novel about finding beauty, hope, and connection in the world no matter where you areΓÇöeven Connecticut.