I Survived the Night of the Lions, 2025 (I Survived #26)

by Lauren Tarshis

First published 2026

Eleven-year-old Dylan carries the weight of a shattered baseball career when his filmmaker sister invites him to Botswana's Okavango Delta. She plans to document a renowned lion researcher in this remote wilderness that shelters vast populations of elephants, lions, and other African wildlife. Dylan watches elephants bathe in lagoons and zebra herds thunder across golden grasslands. Leopards prowl beneath star-filled skies while snakes sun themselves on branches. The trip offers Dylan healing from his crushed Little League aspirations back in Boston. Then their plane crashes into the unforgiving wilderness. Dylan finds himself alone, hurt, and surrounded by Africa's most dangerous predators. He must draw on reserves of courage he never knew he possessed as he confronts the ultimate test of survival against an African lion.

Genres: animals, adventure, contemporary, africa

Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family

Setting: Botswana, Okavango Delta, Boston

Period: Contemporary

144 pages · Paperback · Scholastic Inc.

More by Lauren Tarshis

• I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
• I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916
• I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944
• I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79
• I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871
• I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011
• I Survived the Hindenburg Disaster, 1937
• I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980

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