40 Fun Facts About Far North (Will Hobbs)

The waterfall that swallows the plane in Will Hobbs's Far North stands about twice as tall as which famous landmark?

Niagara Falls drops only about half as far as the real cascade on the South Nahanni. The rock that splits its crest is named for the canoeist Bill Mason.

Will Hobbs made Gabe, the narrator of Far North, a complete outsider to the north from which U.S. state?

Texas struck Hobbs as about as different from the subarctic as anywhere could be. He also knew it well, having lived there as a teenager.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, how is the old hunter Johnny Raven, stranded with the boys, related to Raymond Providence?

His great-uncle Johnny Raven is the third passenger left behind when the plane is lost. The old man's survival lessons are what keep the two boys alive.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, which animal wrecks the boys' winter meat supply and forces them to walk out?

A grizzly prowling in midwinter, icicles hanging from its back, destroys their cache. With nothing left to eat, the boys must trek down the river to the nearest village.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, what do Gabe and Raymond build to escape down the river, ignoring Johnny Raven's advice?

A log raft looks quicker than wintering in the bush, but the ice-choked river defeats it. The failed run costs the boys most of their food.

Reviewers of Will Hobbs's Far North compared it to Hatchet and Brian's Winter, survival novels by which author?

Gary Paulsen published Brian's Winter in 1996, the year Far North appeared. Two winter survival tales for young readers reached the shelves almost side by side.

The grim legends of the real valley in Will Hobbs's Far North began when two gold prospectors were found in what state?

Headless is how the bodies of the brothers Willie and Frank McLeod were found around 1908. Tales of a lost mine and haunted country have clung to the Nahanni ever since.

Will Hobbs joked that he hoped readers of Far North would suffer a good case of virtual what?

Frostbite was the goal, and Hobbs knew the feeling. He had twice winter-camped in Colorado's high country at twenty degrees below zero.

Will Hobbs's Far North strands Gabe and Raymond in the wilderness of which vast region of northern Canada?

Northwest Territories wilderness around the Nahanni is so roadless that Hobbs himself needed a bush pilot to reach the upper river.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, what goes wrong after the bush pilot lands on the river above the waterfall?

The engine quits and the powerless plane drifts toward the drop. Hobbs took the scare from a real incident he heard about on that same stretch of river.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, Gabe enrolls at a boarding school in which Canadian city to be nearer his father?

Yellowknife puts Gabe closer to his father, who works on exploration rigs out in the bush. It is the only city in its entire territory.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, the pilot makes a sightseeing stop at which thundering waterfall on the Nahanni River?

Virginia Falls was named in 1928 by the explorer Fenley Hunter, who called it after his daughter. Hobbs carried his own boat around it on the trip that inspired the book.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, on which real stretch of the Nahanni do Gabe and Raymond end up stranded for the winter?

Deadmen Valley is a real place, like the other settings in the book. Hobbs ran the same river himself on a thirteen-day trip.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, what nickname do northerners give the brutal subarctic winter that traps the boys?

The Hammer is the locals' name for the deep cold. It is closing in when the plane is lost, leaving three survivors with only a small cache of gear.

Raymond Providence and Johnny Raven in Will Hobbs's Far North belong to which Indigenous people of northern Canada?

Dene is simply the word for people in the Athabaskan languages. Hobbs's best research find was a book in which the nation's elders voiced their hopes and fears for the young.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, Johnny Raven's trapping skill brings in which animals for midwinter meat?

Beavers turn up just as the group is running short of meat. Trapping them is one of the old hunter's skills that the boys have to learn.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, Johnny Raven shows the boys how to make mittens and what else from animal hide?

Snowshoes let the boys hunt and travel once the drifts deepen. Publishers Weekly singled out the craft, along with trapping rabbits, among the skills the old man passes on.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, how does Johnny Raven die after leaving the boys to go hunting alone?

He freezes to death in the forest, and the boys find him only after he fails to return by sundown. They had heard a single gunshot in the distance earlier that day.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, on what does Gabe haul the injured Raymond for days down the iced-over river?

A toboggan carries Raymond and their gear after he tells Gabe to go on alone and Gabe refuses. The two stop only at night to build a fire and a shelter.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, what ceremony is held in Johnny Raven's memory once the boys reach safety?

A potlatch, a feast for the whole village, honours the old hunter, and both boys speak at it. Among Athabaskan peoples the most elaborate such feasts mark a death.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, what is the first name of the bush pilot who is lost with his plane?

Clint is swept away with the aircraft, and nearly all the ammunition goes with him. He had been flying two passengers home to their village when he took Gabe along.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, why is Raymond Providence flying home to his village only months into the term?

He has dropped out after only a few months of classes. Kirkus saw him as a misfit in both the modern and the traditional worlds, struggling to find out who he is.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, which animal does Johnny Raven set out to hunt on the day he dies?

A moose is what the old man goes after, and the boys hear his shot from far off. When he has not come back by sundown, they set out to look for him.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, what does Johnny Raven lead the boys to as shelter for the depths of winter?

An old cabin that Johnny remembers from years before becomes their base. He leads the boys to it even though they can barely understand what he tells them.

Will Hobbs ran which rapid himself before making it the spot where Far North's boys nearly lose Johnny Raven?

Figure-of-Eight is where the boys' attempted escape down the river nearly ends in disaster for the old man. Hobbs said he could not have described that country nearly as well without seeing it.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, the small float plane that carries Gabe over the Nahanni is built by which maker?

Cessna is the make of the little aircraft, and the flight mirrors the author's own. Hobbs reached the upper river with a bush pilot in a small floatplane.

The Nahanni park where Will Hobbs set Far North was among the very first places anywhere to earn which status?

World Heritage Site status came in 1978, when UNESCO picked the park as one of its first four natural sites. The river running through it was named a Canadian Heritage River in 1987.

In Nahanni Butte, the real home village of Raymond in Will Hobbs's Far North, many residents speak which language?

Slavey is an Athabaskan language with official status in its territory. The village's own name in it means strong rock.

The boys' long walk out in Will Hobbs's Far North ends where the Nahanni meets which larger river?

The Liard takes in the South Nahanni beside Raymond's village, which sits where the two rivers meet. An all-season road got as far as the opposite bank only in 2010.

Far North won Will Hobbs which prize, given by the Western Writers of America for writing about the West?

The Spur Award went to Far North three years after Hobbs took the same prize for Beardance. The novel won the Colorado Book Award as well.

Will Hobbs drew on boyhood memories of which place, where he lived in third through fifth grade, for Far North?

Alaska gave him the raw vastness of the land, the winter darkness and the northern lights, he said. His family was living in Anchorage at the time.

What was Will Hobbs's career in Colorado before he turned to writing novels such as Far North full-time in 1990?

Teacher of reading and English was his job, mostly in junior high. Hobbs credited those classrooms with his sense of what young readers want from a story.

Who told Will Hobbs about a floatplane that nearly drifted over the falls, sparking the idea for Far North?

A ranger shared the tale while Hobbs was carrying his gear around the drop on day four of his river trip. He said he began thinking of a story on the spot.

Will Hobbs, the author of Far North, made his home beside a wildlife preserve at the edge of which Colorado town?

Durango lies in the Four Corners country, close to the mountains and rivers Hobbs loved. From his windows he reported seeing elk, eagles and even an occasional mountain lion.

Which other Will Hobbs novel joined Far North on a famous list of the twentieth century's 100 best young adult books?

Downriver, published in 1991, made the list beside it. The same book went on to win the California Young Reader Medal four years after it came out.

Which organization named Will Hobbs's Far North one of the 100 best young adult books of the twentieth century?

American Library Association judges also placed the book in their top ten for young adults in 1996. They listed it as a quick pick for reluctant readers as well.

Will Hobbs, the author of Far North, rowed his own boat ten times through which famous American whitewater run?

The Grand Canyon took him about 18 days each time, adding up to more than six months of his life on the Colorado River. Once he and his wife ran it entirely alone.

In Will Hobbs's Far North, where had Johnny Raven been staying before the flight home to his village?

In the hospital is where the old man had been, and the pilot was taking him and Raymond back to their village. Gabe had expected nothing more than a sightseeing trip.

Will Hobbs, author of Far North, named which Robert Louis Stevenson adventure as his all-time favourite childhood book?

Treasure Island topped a boyhood list that also held Tom Sawyer and the Hardy Boys. Hobbs said reading was the best part of every one of his many schools.

Will Hobbs, author of Far North, moved every few years as a child because his father made a career in which service?

The Air Force moved the family every two or three years, and Hobbs was on a ship bound for Panama at six months old. He said it was hard to be the new kid so often.