(Hardcover, 288 pages, first published in 2020)

Set in Thailand in 2018, this true account of the unbelievable cave rescue of the Wild Boars boys' soccer team is told in a heart-racing, you-are-there style. A Newbery Honor book.

Winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Young People's Literature
A 2021 Newbery Honor Book
A 2021 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
A 2021 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
A 2021 Orbis Pictus Honor Book

On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon’s adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. As the world sits vigil, people begin to wonder: how long can a group of ordinary kids survive in complete darkness, with no food or clean water? Luckily, the Wild Boars are a very extraordinary "ordinary" group. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth science and details of the region's culture and religion, author Christina Soontornvat—who was visiting family in Northern Thailand when the Wild Boars went missing—masterfully shows how both the complex engineering operation above ground and the mental struggles of the thirteen young people below proved critical in the life-or-death mission. Meticulously researched and generously illustrated with photographs, this page-turner includes an author’s note describing her experience meeting the team, detailed source notes, and a bibliography to fully immerse readers in the most ambitious cave rescue in history.

Considerations: Certain passages of this book explain the Buddhist worldview and ways of meditating. According to Redeemed Reader, "Buddhism is the prevailing religion of Thailand, and most of the boys are practicing Buddhists. Coach Ek is especially devout, and his encouraging the boys to meditate and pray helped them to stay calm. One of the boys, Adul, is a committed Christian, an orphan taken in by his church." See full review here.

Ages: 10+