Wilder Boys

by Brandon Wallace

Published 5 May 2015
Two brothers need all their wilderness skills to survive when they set off into the woods of Wyoming in search of their absent father.

Jake and Taylor Wilder have been taking care of themselves for a long time. Their father abandoned the family years ago, and their mother is too busy working and running interference between the boys and her boyfriend, Bull, to spend a lot of time with them. Thirteen-year-old Jake spends most of his time reading. He pores over his father's journal, which is full of wilderness facts and survival tips. Eleven-year-old Taylor likes to be outside playing with their dog, Cody, or joking around with the other kids in the neighborhood.

But one night everything changes. The boys discover a dangerous secret that Bull is hiding.

And the next day, they come home from school to find their mother unconscious in an ambulance. Afraid that their mom is dead and fearing for their own safety, the Wilder Boys head off in search of their father. They only have his old letters and journal to help them, but they bravely venture onward.

It's a long journey from the suburbs of Pittsburgh to the wilderness of Wyoming; can the Wilder Boys find their father before Bull catches up with them?

The Journey Home

by Brandon Wallace

Published 5 January 2016
Two brothers must rely on all their wilderness skills to survive their journey home after reuniting with their father and living off the grid in the second adventure of the Wilder Boys series.

At the start of the summer, Jake and Taylor Wilder set out on the adventure of a lifetime. After seeing their mother loaded into an ambulance because of Bull, her terrifying boyfriend, the boys know they are no longer safe. So they go in search of their father, who has been living off the grid in Wyoming. After jumping trains, hitching a ride with a truck driver, and hiding in the luggage compartment of a tour bus, the boys finally find him in Grand Teton National Park.

Just as the boys are getting used to their father's lifestyle-and his "my way is the only way" attitude-they learn that their mother is still alive. But if the brothers don't give back the money they took from Bull last year, she could be taken away from them...for good.

Convinced that their father isn't going to help, the Wilder boys set out on their own again. It's a long way from Wyoming to Pittsburgh, and with winter approaching there will be new challenges. But they have to get back. Will the brothers be able to make it back to their mother before it's too late?

Saving Cody

by Brandon Wallace

Published 3 January 2023
Two brothers fight to save their grandmother’s land from developers in the third “fun, fast-paced, crisp caper” (School Library Journal) of the Wilder Boys series.

When a run-in with the local bully means the boys risk losing their beloved dog, Cody, they hatch a plan to keep him safe. They’ll take him to live with their grandmother in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He’ll be safe there, and Grandma—who lives off the grid—will benefit from the companionship. But first they’ve got to figure out exactly where in the mountains she is.

Following clues left in postcards and pictures and using their keen senses of deduction and survival, they finally find her tract of land. But when they get there, they discover that a group of ill-intentioned developers is trying to bully her off her property. Do the boys have what it takes to outsmart the developers and save their grandmother’s beloved home?

Death Valley Summer

by Brandon Wallace

Published 20 February 2024
Two brothers try to lead lost campers to safety in the fourth adventure of the Wilder Boys series.

The boys help out at a wilderness camp near Sequoia National Park, a day’s drive south of the Sierras. The camp’s main draw is a multi-day trek traversing woodlands, mountains, and desert during a team-based orientation competition that will take them to the edge of Death Valley. When Jake and Taylor’s team counselor is badly hurt in a flash flood, they must galvanize the lost campers to find shelter, aid the injured counselor, and supplement their low supplies with what can be found around them.

At first, stumbling across a ghost town seems like a lucky break from the scorching heat of summer, but the town is already occupied by counterfeiters who are none too pleased about their operation being discovered. The boys must use all their resourcefulness and knowledge of the outdoors to protect their teammates from the criminals and the elements.