Wills Hobbs' The Maze and Far North

Hobbs' novels The Maze and Far North are both survivalist, coming-of-age tales about young boys that are 'lost'. Gabe, in Far North, is lost with his new roommate Raymond in Canada's Northern Territories. Rick, from The Maze, is lost within himself. He has no family, no real friends, and no guidance in life. All he had was a social worker and even the social worker was fired after a corruption scheme unfolded.

The great thing about Hobbs' style is that his novels are fast-paced, engaging, and are beautifully descriptive. They are often in nature and in remote settings. He includes a map at the very beginning of most of his works to give his reader, an intended YA audience, a concrete example of where the boys in his tales are. I don't want to get into the plots of the texts too much as you can find the plots and more on the themes of the novels on my website, right here.

The benefit of these books to young adults is the positive role models apparent in the boys as they mature into more formative adolescents. Gabe is forced to survive in conditions that he has never experienced before. In addition, he forms a bonding relationship with Raymond as they help one another to survive winter in one of the toughest settings on Earth. The boys have their wits about them and never give up. That, perhaps, is the reason they survived more than anything; the boys were full of hope. They used one another as resources; hiding the meat from the bear, one staying along with the moose meat and the other taking it back to the cabin, and Gabe dragged Raymond on his toboggan across very sketchy patches of ice and over a hundred miles toward Nahanni Butte. The gave the reader a thrill and demonstrated how two young men never give up hope and form a friendship that leads them to survival.

Rick was a boy who had no one. He never knew his father, his mother gave him up, and his grandmother died. The courts shuffled him around foster homes and he landed in Blue Canyon Detention Center. Rick was courageous; he snitched on a corruption scandal and faced a brutal beating if he didn't escape. He serves as a very positive role models to youth not because he escaped, but because he didn't get into a physical confrontation. Furthermore, he did the right thing, and that sometimes is the toughest thing to do. At the end of the text he did the right thing again, and once again it was a tough decision. He risked his life trying to save Leo, and through Leo's tutelage he saved Leo from inevitable death. Leo was a very positive mentor as he warmed up to Rick throughout the novel and acted as a surrogate father taking him back to court to straighten the situation out. Both were great role models for young readers, especially those faced with the decision of doing the right thing though its difficult, or apathy.