parents’ new property to eat.

After his second Friday at Hardy Elementary, Mark spends a night alone in an old barn. During the night, Mark challenges himself to be tough and face his fear of the dark. He blows out his lamp and lies alone in the dark, thinking about his behavior in his first two weeks in New Hampshire. He realizes that he has acted “like a stuck-up jerk” and resolves to be nicer.

On Monday, Mark finds out that kids at his school are pretty nice. He makes friends with a boy named Jason. However, he has a harder time with the teachers, who do not warm up when he tries to be more active in class. Mr. Maxwell is especially fixed in his negative impressions. He responds with coldness to all of Mark’s attempts at friendliness.

Mark begins to get excited about A Week in the Woods. He spends a night camping with Leon on the edge of his property, and Leon shows Mark how to build a campfire. Later, with his mom’s permission, Mark buys a complete set of high-quality camping gear to take on his trip. In the back of his mind, he hopes Mr. Maxwell will accept him when he sees how seriously Mark has taken his preparations. He brings all of his new gear except a small pocketknife because he is told that knives are not allowed.

When the class leaves for A Week in the Woods, Mr. Maxwell seems unimpressed with Mark’s gear. However, Mark has fun riding the bus with Jason and competing to see who can carry the most firewood fastest. In the first activity of the trip, a hunt for little items like acorns and mica, Mark works hard and contributes a great deal to his team.

That first afternoon, when Mark returns to his cabin, Jason whispers to Mark to “check this out.” Secretively, he shows Mark a multitool, a compact object that contains pliers, scissors, and other tools that can come in handy outdoors. As Mark admires it, Mr. Maxwell enters the cabin to make an announcement. Mark tries to hide the tool, but Mr. Maxwell sees it and takes it away.

A knife is among the features of the multitool, and the school has a zero-tolerance policy about knives at school events. Mr. Maxwell says he has to kick Mark out of the camp and have him suspended. Jason offers to turn himself in, but Mark insists on taking the heat. He packs up his stuff and heads outside, where he is supposed to wait in Mr. Maxwell’s truck.

As Mr. Maxwell makes preparations to drive Mark home, he finds a name scratched onto the side of the knife: Jason Frazier. Mr. Maxwell instantly feels terrible. He realizes that he was being extra strict with Mark because the boy is a spoiled smart-mouth, not because it was such a terrible thing to bring a small knife on the trip. He runs to his truck to apologize, but Mark is not there.

The ranger wants to call the police, but Mr. Maxwell insists on looking for Mark on his own. When a teacher says she saw Mark by a trailhead, Mr. Maxwell thinks he will be able to find the boy easily. He sets off up the trail to bring Mark back. He walks quickly, telling himself that he is a “pigheaded idiot” for being so hard on Mark.

By this point, Mark has been walking for about an hour and a half, moving as fast as he can. He pauses to eat an energy bar and consider his situation. He is angry at Mr. Maxwell for picking on him, but he also knows his decision to flee was rash. People will assume he is lost, which may ruin the Week in the Woods for the whole school. He checks his map and decides to take a loop trail back toward camp and accept whatever punishment he receives for running away.

Near evening, Mr. Maxwell begins to worry. The trail is getting harder, he knows Mark must be tired. When he sees Mark’s tracks turning off on the loop trail, Mr. Maxwell gets even more scared. That trail is dangerously eroded, and it has been closed to hikers for years.

Mark comes to a steep, difficult spot on the trail and checks his map. He sees that he can avoid a steep climb if he takes a shortcut through the woods. He calculates the directions with his compass and sets out. It is difficult walking, and he is tired. He checks his compass regularly, correcting his course as necessary, but the trail is so overgrown that he does not find it again. He turns back and hears Mr. Maxwell shouting his name.

Afraid of what will happen if Mr. Maxwell finds him, Mark panics and bolts. He takes a hard fall, and then he pauses for breath and faces the facts. He will have to see Mr. Maxwell sometime, so why not now? He calls for the teacher, but he gets no response. He begins walking uphill, toward the spot where he heard the voice. However, he is so tired he forgets to check his compass.

Just as it is getting dark, Mark checks the compass and realizes he is moving in the wrong direction. He calculates a way to find the path and doubles back, searching until well after dark. Unable to find Mr. Maxwell or the trail, Mark eventually admits that he has no choice but to spend the night in the woods. He makes camp, builds a fire, and eats a little food. He goes to sleep in his sleeping bag with a space blanket on top to keep off the frost. He sleeps for a few hours, but in the middle of the night he hears Mr. Maxwell calling, “I need…help.”

Mark helps Mr. Maxwell to the campsite and covers him the sleeping bag and space blanket. The teacher broke his ankle in a fall and is in bad shape. Mark rebuilds his campsite and gives Mr. Maxwell water and food. Then Mr. Maxwell apologizes, and the two of them hike back to camp together.

When Mark gets home at the end of the week, he speaks with his parents on the phone. He tells them all about the camp, and he also says he wants to stay at the new house rather than go away to Runyon Academy. His mother seems unsure, but his father is impressed that Mark is developing toughness. He says they can talk about it, and he also says, “I’m proud of you, son.” Mark has heard his father say these words many times before, but this time feels different—because Mark himself is different.