Brian's Return

Brian's Return by Gary Paulsen.

Brian Robeson was lost in the wilderness and survived for weeks when the pilot of the plane he was in had a heart attack and died.  Now Brian is back at home and cannot make sense of his life in high school.  He feels out of it.  More isolated than he did in the woods when he was alone.  He makes up his mind to go back into the woods where he was at one with nature.

His adventures are slightly different because he came prepared for almost anything he could think of happening on this trip.  Then he remembered the most important thing about living in the wilderness - expect the unexpected.  He encountered a gully washer of an overnight rainstorm, a frightened young doe who tipped over his canoe, a small bear who was protecting his territory, a band of wolves who invaded his camp at night, and a stranger who came to share his campfire one night.

Overall, Brian's return to the wilderness was not necessarily as hazardous as his first adventure, but he did have to contend with some of the same things.  He first dealt with death, a tornado, mosquitoes, and near starvation.  This time was not quite so bad, but he realized that life in the wilderness is always going to be unexpected.  You can never predict nature.