In 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke crash landed in the Amazon rainforest on a flight from Lima, Peru, en route to her family’s research station. The sole survivor, Koepcke made her way through the jungle for 11 days in search of rescue.
Now, retells this true story in her first book for middle-grade readers, Follow the Water (Little, Brown and Company, 2026) — out on March 17. Cochrane includes educational sections to explain the science of surviving the crash, diversity of life in the Amazon, and the natural history of Peru.
A former public school teacher and a California naturalist, Cochrane attended 51ԹϺ Davis with the intention of becoming a veterinarian. Instead, she fell in love with the Russian language, changed her major and ultimately became an English teacher. She knows survival stories interest her young readers.
“I think some kids have some tough lives and when they see that somebody can overcome obstacles and persevere, I think it resonates with them and lets them know that, ‘you know, I can do this,’ whatever it is,” she said.
Why did you want to write about this particular survival story?
I have a personal connection because I was an exchange student to Peru and when I was there, I lived in the same city where Julianne grew up, and I traveled the same plane route that she did where she suffered her accident to visit the Amazon. Then during COVID, I started looking at old journals and I came across my exchange student journal and I remembered her story. I was in the process of getting my master's degree in science writing and I started writing about her and I realized, yes, this is an oft-told story, but nobody's really dug into it for 11- to 13-year-olds so they could also experience the nature and wonder of the Amazon.
I imagine you have to tell the story a little differently for that age group. How did you determine that?
I taught middle school for 20 years, so I'm very familiar with that period in our lives. But I really found that children who are that age like honesty more than anything, and they can smell it when you're being disingenuous or not being straightforward. And yes, there's some very terrible scenes in this book. She discovers some people who perished. The actual crash itself is a harrowing experience. But I think that I told it in a way that's accessible and honest, and I think that they will be able to go through and read it without being traumatized.
How did you research the background for this book?
I had to research very carefully because I wanted to be super accurate in the natural history. I think my passion really is for sharing natural history. The outdoor world is very valuable, especially for young people. But I had a problem with the book because the principal, Juliane, Dr. Diller now, Juliane Koepcke back then, was really open and forthright about what happened to her at first, but she was besieged by press, had a lot of negative attention, and ultimately withdrew completely. She gave no interviews after the initial interviews, except when she wrote an autobiography and she did it to help promote the foundation that she created in the Amazon based on her parents' old scientific research station. But after that she shut down again. I could not get an interview with her. So I used my Spanish and just dug into research and worked all around the principal — every time she made a recording, any comments, reports in the newspapers from way back — and I was able to recreate the story.
What would you do if you met her now?
I would tell her, “I know this is your story and in no way did I mean to infringe on that, but I truly hope that the work I did will bring alive that part of the Amazon for thousands of young kids and that will have an effect on you and the foundation as it goes forward.” She has concentrated on increasing the acreage of the area. And I've dedicated a small portion, it's 10 percent of my profits, to go straight to the foundation. I think she's done a wonderful thing.
Your next book is called The Siberian. What can you tell us about that?
It's a story of siblings struggling to survive in Siberia after something has caused a dilemma, and they work to survive. I really like survival stories, so I decided not to stray too far, but this is 100% fiction. One of their major challenges is encountering a tiger. In the story they are children of scientists. But there is science and the politics behind saving a tiger [and several dictators have enacted strong conservation efforts]. Putin became very enamored of the Amur tiger, also known as a Siberian. . So they went from a handful of tigers and a species that was on its way out. They have now more than 500 tigers in the Far East. So I'm going to write about that and the experience that the middle-grade children have. I found a that's my niche. I really enjoy writing for this age group.