On October 12, 1972, a Uruguayan plane carrying rugby players and family members crashes in a remote area of the Andes Mountains. Of the 45 passengers on board the plane, 16 people are alive after surviving 10 weeks in the bitter cold. The fuselage provided shelter for the group. Without food, the men make the difficult decision to seek sustenance from the dead passengers. Two young rugby players risk their lives to hike through the mountains to find help. Through interviews with the survivors and their families, Read relays with detail and compassion the brutal conditions, the despair of the survivors, the difficult decision to eat the dead and the final trek for help.--Ministry of Education website.

English language arts 10 (2011).