Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.

Brian is on his way to visit his father when the plane that he is riding in crashes. The pilot suffers a heart attack, and he and Brian are lost to the wilderness. Brian knows that he has to survive, and he needs to do what it takes to get through the days until he is found. He begins to build a shelter, learns to make a fire, and then learns to hunt for the food that he needs to survive where he is. He is not sure how long he is going to be there until someone finds him.
As he works through the days, he finds the ups and downs of being alone. He learns to rely on himself, and the inner strength that he did not know he had.
It is not until a tornado rips through the area that he is able to finally see the plane again, and then he remembers, there is a survival pack. He works to put together a raft and then swims out to the plane to see what he can salvage from the wreck. He is not sure what he will find, or if he will be able to get out of the plane again when he gets in....

This was a great read! I am looking forward to reading this book out loud to the boys!

GARY PAULSEN

Paulsen throws readers right into the thick of things when Brian, the lone passenger in a private turboprop plane, must crash-land it in the middle of the Canadian Wilds when the pilot has a heart attack midflight. For nearly two months, Brian must fend for himself, armed only with the hatchet his mother gave him as a parting gift before his fateful flight. Paulsen does a great job building intensity during the plane wreck, and once Brian is surviving on the lake, there is a great sense of pacing between long quiet moments and the sharper intensities of attack and hunger that come with surviving off the land. I first read this book back in elementary school and remember thinking it was okay. This time around, I can really see the appeal the book has for boys–bears, porcupines, fishing, fool birds, even a moose attack. It might even see a resurgence as contemporary survival shows like Man vs. Wild or Survivorman become more and more popular.

I read this in school in junior high. It's okay, but I'm just not into the “wilderness kid” type books. Why are so many required reading in school?

I wanted more to be resolved between his parents and also between himself and his parents. However Paulsen did a magnificent job of limiting his story to the events of the crash and not adding stuff in just to make a happy ending. He wrote a realistic piece of fiction. It was wonderful.