The Hatchet- Gary Paulsen

The Hatchet- Gary Paulsen

Rating: *

The Hatchet was a well written story but failed to hold my attention for long, however it did show to me how hard it would to survive without any previous knowledge, no matter how little.

A thirteen year old boy is flying to the north of Canada when his plane crashes into a lake. Stranded with little food and an injury, the boy (Brian) must learn to survive on his own as the nights are getting colder and the days are getting shorter. Many obstacles stand in his way, such as encounters with animals, having to learn how to hunt and what is edible, as well as a tornado ruining his shelter. After all that, Brian manages to survive and get himself rescued.

When I first read this in grade 8, and I thought that it was a terrible book but well written. As we progressed in reading it and discussing what was happening in class, I got to understand it a bit better and learn exactly how much he relied on his hatchet. Without it, there was no chance that Brian would've been able to survive. It made me realize that I would've had no chance of surviving if I had to go through what he did, simply because I would not have had the intellectual ability to retain information from school in the event of a crisis such as how Brian did.

Paulsen, Gary. The Hatchet. Prentice Hall & IBD, 1987. Print.