I remember this as one of many survival-based books we read in middle school. Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Lord of the Flies, etc. After a few months of those I got worried that school field trips were going to dump us on some Battle Royale-type island...

I remember finding the manliness-is-so-manly stuff pretty compelling when I was 12, but the nature documentary aspect was dead boring. I have no idea how that would translate to me as a reader now.