Calling All Librarians

I don't know if it is the one he is looking for but Night of the Howling Dogs is a great book! It is based on a true story of a Boy Scout troop in Hawaii. There is an earthquake that sparks a tsunami and mudslides. It has been awhile since I read it, but I think there is someone who dies. I think it was a troop leader or a guy they met on the trail. Even if it isn't the one he is looking for I bet be would like this one. It is one of the best middle reader books I've read in the last several years and I read a lot of them for a state book award committee that I am on. It is one of the books that I can remember vividly even years later.

Another book he might like is My Side of the Mountain :)

Maybe it's "Lost on a Mountain in Maine".

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Mountain-Maine-Donn-Fendler/dp...

But the boy scout is lost by himself.

I don't know about the book but these are all awesome suggestions i'm going to pass over to my own son.

Not sure I know which book you are talking about, though it sounds really familiar. I'll just add that Gary Paulsen (mentioned in a couple other responses) writes a series of books about middle-school-aged boys on perilous adventures in the wilderness. Our son has read lots of them and loves them. I bet this book is one of them. Even if it isn't, you might just have your son look at books by him.

M.,
My daughter & I just read that. It is called Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. It is excellent. Your son will love it.