Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is about a thirteen-year-old boy, Brian Robeson. Brian is from New York City and is taking a plane from Hampton, New York to the Canadian north woods to visit his father. Brian is dealing with his parents’ recent divorce and his mother’s affair. While in the plane, the pilot gives Brian a brief flying lesson. For a few minutes Brian is flying the plane with the pilot’s guidance. The pilot started to experience a pain in his arm, shoulder, and stomach. At first Brian does not think that it is anything serious, but the pilot starts to jerk in his seat. It becomes apparent that the pilot is having a heart attack. His heart attack stops and the pilot dies. Brian is forced to take over the controls of the plane. He eventually crashes the plane into a lake in the Canadian woods and is stranded there.

Brian is injured from the crash and has very little to eat. Many unfortunate things happen to Brian Robeson while he is stranded in the Canadian woods. When Brian is looking for food he eats some strange berries and gets extremely sick. After seeing a bear, Brian decides to build a shelter for protection. A porcupine has entered his shelter and shoots quills into Brian’s leg, causing him severe pain. Brian starts a fire by striking his hatchet against a stone to ignite sparks. After a while in the woods, a tornado hits the area, destroying Brian’s shelter. The tornado exposes the plane and Brian goes to look for a survival kit. Brian finds a survival pack and finds a lot of useful things like food and an emergency transmitter. He fiddles with the transmitter thinking it is broken. While cooking the food, a plane lands on the lake that has come to rescue Brian.

I read this book for the first time when I was in middle school. I really enjoyed it when I first read it and when I reread it I enjoyed it even more. There were a lot of details that I either didn’t pay attention to or just didn’t remember. This is a great story of survival and this story also shows how a divorce or troubles at home affect kids.

While reading this book I was a little frustrated with all of the unfortunate things that happened to Brian Robeson. Brain’s parents just got divorced and his plane crashed. He also got stuck with needles by a porcupine, scared by a bear, and sick from eating berries. Brian was also temporarily blinded when strayed by a skunk, attacked by a moose, and his shelter was hit by a tornado. Brian does attempt to commit suicide by cutting himself with his hatchet, but survives the attempt. I did not like this part of the book but after this experience Brian is determined to embrace life and wants to take an active role in his own fate.

I highly recommend Hatchet to anyone. It is not a very long book and it does not use vocabulary that is difficult to understand. I personally think it is an easy read and a very entertaining book. Gary Paulsen has many other great novels that I recommend. Hatchet is the first book of five in Brian’s Saga. I have read four out of the five books from this saga and they are all great books.