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Hatchet

Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present -- and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parent's divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self pity, or despair -- it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.

For twenty years Gary Paulsen's award-winning contemporary classic has been the survival story with which all others are compared. This new edition, with a reading group guide, will introduce a new generation of readers to this page-turning, heart-stopping adventure.


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781416936473
ISBN: 1416936475
Label: Aladdin
Manufacturer: Aladdin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: 2006-12-26
Publisher: Aladdin
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Studio: Aladdin


ACCESSORIES:

• Hatchet: 20th Anniversary Edition
• Tracker
• Woodsong


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• Brian's Winter
• The River (A Yearling book)
• Brian's Return
• Number the Stars
• The Giver


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Could you survive in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a hatchet?
Comment: Gary Paulsen, Hatchet (Aladdin, 1987)

In the annals of survival kidlit, there are a few books that we always come back to. Twenty years ago, Gary Paulsen added Hatchet to the list, and it's a book that has cropped up again and again since on recommended reading lists alongside, or sometimes taking the place of, such stalwarts as Robb White's immortal Deathwatch. And I'm willing to admit that my thinking Hatchet doesn't hold up to Deathwatch could very well be because I first read Deathwatch as a fifth-grade reading assignment, and I didn't read Hatchet until I was forty. Who knows? One way or the other, though, while Hatchet is a very good book, I'm not sure it's the immortal classic that I've heard it made out to be many times.

The plot is a simple one: Brian Robeson, the only survivor of a deep-woods plane crash, must survive until some chance plane flying overhead discovers him. He has some equipment with him, but most of it is buried in the plane, which is out in the middle of the lake, with all the access points underwater. All he has to work with are his clothes, the things he can find in the world around him, and the hatchet his mother gave him just before he left. How does a coddled city boy learn to survive, alone, in the wild?

When your plot is this simple (and I have to say, it takes a writer with some stones to try and write an entire novel from a plot that simple), you have little choice but to focus on the other aspects of writing--character, description, theme (though god help the writer who replaces the Western prejudice towards plot with a similar reliance on theme, for he will almost certainly turn out unreadable dreck). This is one of the reasons that survival literature, that which survives the test of time anyway, is so great: the plot is always that simple, so the parts of novels that normally get short shrift, at least in this country, are forced to come to light. This is magnified in kidlit, which is, in general, so plot-heavy that the books that really work with character (The Giver, e.g.) are pretty much automatic classics. Hatchet is one of those books. Pretty much by default, survival lit is about its main character growing and changing, which makes it perfect for kidlit. Paulsen avoids one of the traps of this sort of thing by making Brian into a well-rounded character beforehand, rather than taking a two-dimensional character and making him into a three-dimensional one. Good choice.

Still, from an action perspective (and action is another staple of survival novels, kidlit or otherwise), Hatchet doesn't work as well as other giants in the genre. Again, this comes from a gutsy decision on Paulsen's part; rather than giving Brian an antagonist, the bulk of the book is just Brian and the world around him. Interesting move, and effective to an extent, but the book does lag now and again. Not horribly; the pages keep turning well enough, and the character development here is enough of a reason to keep reading. It could've just used a kick in the seat now and again to get it moving a little faster.

Darned good, but if you liked it, check out some of the other books in the genre and you may find you like them even better. *** ½


Customer Rating:
Summary: great reading
Comment: This is a great book. I purchased it for my 12 year old daughter who had to read it this summer for a summer reading assignment. She actually enjoyed the book very much and finished it in 2 days.

Customer Rating:
Summary: My 4rth grader got me hooked!
Comment: Not only adventure and suspense, but documents perserverance, patience, and how reality comes through thought. Brian's struggles are at a magnified level of the ones we all face, but at the same time put ours in perspective. Paulsen has a wonderful way of communicating experiences and opening different perspectives of existence to young readers. This book is especially recommended to any young people going through difficult times, as it cuts to the quick with emotions, but provides the driving force to live and succeed.

Customer Rating:
Summary: HATCHET
Comment: Brian Robeson,a 13-year-old boy, whose mom and dad just divorced, heads to his dad's house in Canada on a single-engine plane with a pilot. On the plane, the pilot gives Brian a brief flying lesson and lets him drive the plane for about a minute. The pilot seems to be experiencing increasing pain in his shoulder, arm, and stomach. And next thing Brian knows, the pilot starts jerking in his seat. At this point, it is clear that he was having a heart attack. The attack stops and the pilot is dead. Brian is forced to take over the controls. After a long descent, the plane crashes into a lake in the Canadian woods where Brian is stranded. Later in the story, Brian finds a survival pack in the plane and opens it. It has various items and something that just might save him. The item is labeled "Emergency Transmitter," and Brian starts tinkering with it, hoping that this will help him get home, but adventure awaits.
I would recommend this book to people of all ages. This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It deals with divorce, loss, and survival. This book will make you want to read more!

Customer Rating:
Summary: An Epic Survival Adventure
Comment:
The book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is a third person survival story that takes place in the forests of northern Canada. The forests of northern Canada are looming with dangerous animals like a moose he got attacked by and skunks. The forest's only food is berries and fish from the lake. Also, this is a very dangerous place to be due to the violent storms and quickly changing weather. Hatchet is the story of a 13 year old boy named Brian surviving for 66 days after his plane crashes on the way to visit his father. Brian has a lot of sadness in his life because of his parent's divorce. After Brian's parents get divorced, everything goes wrong for him. His father had to move back to northern Canada and work on an oil rig. After not seeing his dad for a while, Brian decides to visit his father. On the flight there, the pilot has a heart attack and the plane crashes in the middle of nowhere. Luckily Brian survives the crash but he is way off course because the pilot changed course accidentally during his heart attack. Brian crash landed in a long lake where he had to battle the forces of nature. He had a hatchet that his mother gave him for the trip, which he uses for a variety of survival skills. Due to his lack of materials, Brian had to figure out how to find food and make shelter with whatever he could find. During his period of time that he is lost in the woods, Brian makes a small hut and a fire with his hatchet, figures out how to catch fish with a spear and learns many other ways to survive. He constantly tells himself to keep believing in himself even though he thought he should give up because his life back home was a mess and he probably wouldn't come out of the forest the same. Why do you think the author chose to end Hatchet the way he did?
I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I think the author used very intricate details about the events that happened throughout the book. Although he used intricate details, he did not describe the characters very well. The only character the author described which was brief was Brian. The author did not describe his mother or father very much. I really enjoyed the parts of the book where the author talked about all the different ways Brian discovered how to survive and all the different tools he used to survive. The author was very detailed and descriptive about all the events that happened to Brian such as a moose attacking him. The way the author was able to describe all the different parts of the moose attack, like the way the moose hit Brian and how Brian felt when he got up where great to read. If you were looking for a book to read soon, I would strongly recommend Hatchet.

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