Wildfire

Wildfire is a 2019 middle grade novel by American author Rodman Philbrick. It tells the story of Sam Castine, a 12-year-old boy who is attending a summer camp in Maine when a deadly forest fire breaks out; Sam fights for his life alongside Delphy, a teenage girl who is also stranded in the forest. Philbrick currently splits his time between Maine and Florida, so the book’s setting is one that he knows well. Philbrick based the text on the Great Fire of 1947, a serious wildfire in Maine. Although the fire in Wildfire is fictional, major forest fires break out every year across North America. The details of the fire in this novel are based on real stories of fires from California and other states. Wildfire is a fast-paced survival narrative that takes place over the course of six days. It was well-received, and it won the 2020-2021 Great Stone Face Book Award in New Hampshire.

This guide uses the 2019 Blue Sky Press e-book edition of the text.

Content Warning: This book and this guide contain graphic descriptions of the death of a parent and descriptions of prescription drug addiction.