I am trying to track down the title of a book that was read to my 2nd grade class by the school librarian.

December 2, 2005 7:52 AM

I am trying to track down the title of a book that was read to my 2nd grade class by the school librarian, so it is at least 23 years old or so. It is about a boy who falls asleep in his parents truck. The truck is stolen, with him in it, and is driven through the desert where the boy escapes from the truck only to be stranded in the middle of the desert with no food or water. He nearly dies of thirst, and survives just barely by collecting dew off of a plastic sheet that he finds. I have tried every kind of Google search I can think of both. Does any body know of and remember this book?
posted by moseymose to media & arts (7 comments total)

I remember that book! But not the name.
posted by voidcontext at 8:16 AM on December 2, 2005

ditto. i even remember the diagram in the book of the solar still he made to collect water. i know this is terribly unhelpful, but i can't remember the name either...
posted by elsar at 8:17 AM on December 2, 2005

Hmmm. Could it be Lost in the Desert? The Library of Congress says that the boy is aided by an old shepherd in that book, though.
posted by Gator at 8:20 AM on December 2, 2005

Oh man, I remember that book- it totally sparked in my head when you mentioned collecting the water off the sheet. But... alas, I don't remember the name of it.
posted by headspace at 9:12 AM on December 2, 2005

Yes, the boy gathered cactus and put it in the solar collector hole. A pebble weighted down the center of the plastic sheet to form a cone, water dripped off the end into a tin cup. I remember looking at the diagram and thinking, man, I hope I get lost in the desert because I know exactly what to do.

Don't remember the name though...
posted by LarryC at 9:21 AM on December 2, 2005

A quick search on Amazon yields this title:
Lost in the Devil's Desert (Paperback)
by Gloria Skurzynski, Joseph Scrofani (Illustrator)

Card catalog description: Eleven-year-old Kevin finds himself alone and lost in the Utah desert, with only his wits to help him survive.

Is this it?
Cheers
posted by queue_strategy at 10:25 AM on December 2, 2005

Yes, thank you queue_strategy. After clicking through pages and pages of used book listing with that exact same tag line, I was finally able to verify that it is the correct book after stumbling upon this brief bio of the author. That was driving me nuts. I love Metafilter, thanks again.
posted by moseymose at 11:15 AM on December 2, 2005