RIP, Gary Paulson, October 16, 2021

I have read Hatchet a few times and listened to it with the fam a couple times in the car, and taught it and each time it reads better and better. Just listened to Peter Coyote read it while riding back from Yellowstone, and loved it. Great story, well told, well read.

An adventure story in part based on tough guy (with a big heart) Paulson's own survival of a plane crash and other near death experiences. When I think of that kid there finding ways to survive at a lake in Nowhere, Canada, miles from civilization, I see it precisely, I have been there, in the way of the best books. And some genuine heart-pumping moments.

Paulsen's great achievement. How is it it rates only 3.61 from GR readers?! Read it, or read it again, in honor of this great book, probably written for middle grades, but really all-ages in the way of classics.
Great book!!

I was roped into reading this classic YA for reasons, not realizing I had actually read it way back when I was in school in 7th grade. I started reading it and said, "Damn, I hate it when authors use this kind of tone for kids, emphasizing 'secret' so damn much in extremely short and supposedly powerful ways that just sounds so faux-mysterious."

A second later it dawned on me that I knew the rest of the story. Another second later, I realized it wasn't because the survival trope was so damn common.

It was because I HAD read it and just plain forgot it.

Huh.

Well, anyway, it made me think about how survival tropes haven't really been around anymore. I mean, sure, we have Hunger Games and just about every Anime out there, but there's not too much in modern lit, not that I've seen. Notable examples to the contrary are Life of Pi, etc., but many of these serve as either satire or dark commentary.

Whatever happened to this kind of genre, especially SF? Heinlein's juveniles used to be full of it.

How odd.

Oh? What about this book? lol

It's fine. It made me angry and nostalgic in turn.
Mostly entirely because of the Boy Scouts. I remember survival training and then I remembered that the whole thing of the BOY SCOUTS is dead now. Survival training and survival literature have both died.

I think that's kinda ironic.

It was fine, but just flat out NOT MY CUP OF TEA. Great if you like you like this kinda thing—boy surviving in the wild, but...I don’t know. Just...I don’t know. All I really remember about it was thinking it was slow and when is it going to end?(because I read this for school, so I had to finish it) I remember a body in the water. Yeah. And a plane crash. And spearing fish. That’s about it

I volunteer at the local library in a program between the schools and library to encourage reading. I usually work with high school students but this month I was changed to the 10 to 12 year olds. Our librarian chose the book this time and the kids read the book and met with me at the conference room at the library last week. The book was “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen. The book was a Newbery Honor book for 1987. The novel is about a thirteen year old Brian Robeson who is on his way to visit his father for the summer in a single engine plane, the Cessna 406 bush plane. Brian is sitting in the co-pilot seat; suddenly the plane jerks off into another direction and the pilot is grabbing his chest. The pilot is dead of a heart attack and the plane flies on until it runs out of gas and goes down in a lake. Brian manages to escape the plane but all he has are his cloths, a windbreaker and on his belt the hatchet his mother had given him at the airport. Brian had been depressed about his parent’s recent divorce and knew he had to snap out of his depression and find the determination and courage to survive alone in the Canadian wilderness. Brian survives fifty-four days alone. Paulsen describes how he survived, what he found to eat, how he managed to create a fire.

The book is well written and is 186 pages long. Paulsen makes the story very realistic and he personally tried every food and technique he describes in the book. Paulsen also provides moral and emotional information intertwined in the story. The book that was given to me had a number of discussion points to review with the children. One of the discussion questions was how Brian uses information that he has learned from his school teachers, movies and specials on public television to understand the animals in the wild and how does this knowledge contribute to his survival. Another question was how did Brian deal with his dark moments of despair? At what point does he learn not to fear the animals, but to share the woods with them? The group was very excited about the story and got into a big discussion that ended up going overtime. I found it interesting that both the boys and girls were equally excited about the story and during the discussion I noted that most of the children were evaluating their own skills and knowledge and wondering if they could have survived on their own. I recommend this book to everyone of all ages and as a family discussion book.

ok I read this like 8 years ago but I remember it pretty well? it's not bad but survival books aren't my thing so this was kinda boring

yes yes yes!! thank you to all the goodreaders who recommended this to me after my love for island of the blue dolphins became known. it turns out i love survival stories!! with teens!! and i wish i could say i never tore my eyes from the page and read this in an hour, but i have been having a distractedish day today; emailing my dad for father's day (everyone: call your dads!! or if they are at work, email-chat them!) and then there was a fire across the street from me (which is my number one all time fear) and the people in the building are so casual about it - there are two fire trucks in the street, and firefighters swarming everywhere, and i look in the windows and in two different apartments, there are people just sitting and watching and smoking cigarettes. what is wrong with them?? don't they care that their building is on fire?? don't they feel the fear i feel?? did they light their cigarettes from their blazing belongings and treasures?? i don't understand their stoicism in the face of fire. but you know who loves fire?? brian. he uses it to survive in the wilderness. seamless segue back into the review. it's great. i could read 400 more pages of this story. and despite my own fears of the fire leaping across the street to consume me and my beloved books, i could still engage in his plight: when he d the h in the w (clever code prevents spoilers) - i actually gasped out loud. and there were several times when he overcame a particular setback that i smiled. i totally cared about this character. i would love more survivaly stories, if anyone's got 'em.

come to my blog!

My name is Brian R, he said staring at the pilot. Would you like something too eat?…
That ending, I swear that ending lol!
“To die would be an awfully big adventure.” -Peter Pan!
Gary Paulsen has become the obsession of my childhood adventure dreams! I shall be pleasantly happy now reading The whole Brian’s saga!

Hatchet is a story about a young boy (Brian) struggling to survive after his plane crashes in a forest. He was traveling by airplane from the United States to Canada to see his father when the pilot suddenly had a heart attack. Brian lands the plane, but now he’s injured--and all alone with nothing but the hatchet his mother gave him. As Brian strives to find ways to survive, he learns and adapts to the new environment, but he faces many challenges with animals and the elements. Left to survive on his instincts and what he’s learned in the past, Brian ponders over his family situation and deals with many emotions. He’s a strong boy and becomes quite resourceful, but can he survive the Canadian wilderness?

Gary Paulsen is one of my favorite authors, and it all started with this book, Hatchet. This book unequivocally is a favorite from childhood, and this is probably my third or fourth time reading it in my lifetime. This story never gets old.

Brian is a relatable character, and what he’s going through feels real; in fact, this book reads like nonfiction, in my opinion. It’s adventurous, engrossing, and full of suspense. Not only that, it’s thought-provoking and makes you ask questions about what you'd do in a similar situation. How prepared would you be? Do you have what it takes to survive? What’s it like to be completely alone in the wilderness? It can make your imagination run wild, and maybe that’s just one of the reasons why kids enjoy this story so much.

Readers who enjoy the outdoors or those who like survival stories will likely enjoy this book. This is a middle-grade book, but I’ve read it multiple times in adulthood and have enjoyed it all the same. Something I love about this story is Brian’s perseverance and how he learns from his mistakes. There are important lessons to learn. It’s a good story for boys, but girls will likely enjoy it too. The writing makes this a quick and easy read, but the book explores death, survival, divorce, anger, and even suicidal thoughts. Hatchet is a book I would personally recommend for young readers who struggle with reading or those who don't have an interest in reading. Definitely use your own discretion on whether your reader can handle these deeper themes though.

Hatchet is book #1 in the Brian’s Saga series. I’ve read them all and will read them again and again. This is a series I’d recommend to anyone. The audio by Peter Coyote is amazing and perfectly sets the tone for this book. My kids enjoyed it along with their physical copies.

4.5-stars

You can also see this review @readrantrockandroll.com

Pretty good for a kid’s book! I liked it more than my first read through which was ages ago. Probably a solid pick for beginner English readers and young boys.

Kid: “There’s an axe on the cover, wow!”

This book is highly repetitive, it's annoying.

This is a great book. It's a good adventure story for early teens. I think it should have won the Newberry Medal for 1988 and so it goes.

Brian has to survive in the Canadian Woods on his own for a summer. He learns to make fire, shelter and hunt for fish and birds. There is also a divorce theme going on as Brian's parents have recently split.

This is your typical survival tale. Brian does face some harsh environments and he learns to be tough physically and more importantly - mentally. He doesn't give in to feeling sorry for himself. This is very well written and there is a reason it is so popular. I will read more of the Brian Saga.

I will be honest: I didn't really enjoy this book. And I even had high expectations because it's the recipient of the Newbery Honor.

I had just read “The Life of Pi” a few weeks ago and enjoyed it immensely despite its otherwise relatively boring, dialogue-less narrative – one that can be expected from a book about a shipwrecked teenage boy (albeit with a Bengal tiger for company). This children's book, Hatchet, had a similar plot: thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson was on his way to see his father in Canada when the single-engine plane that he was riding on plummets to a lake in the Canadian forests, and he is forced to try and survive on his own – with only the hatchet that his mother had given him for company (if you could call it that). He spends more days in the wilderness than he would have wanted to, so in that sense, he and Pi share a lot in common.

But the similarities stop there, in my opinion. Whereas Pi was so engaging and well-written, Hatchet bored my mind silly. There were times that I was even skeptical about what Brian had supposedly done in order to survive; to me, it just didn't seem possible for a 13-year-old to have done things like that in real life. The book just made everything about foraging and hunting and living in the wild seem so easy when they, of course, are not.

I'm hoping I'll enjoy Gary Paulsen's other books. I still have several in my TBR.