As i read this book to my kids it left me wondering if i had read it before. I knew that if i did, it was in my youth. Last night a bit of memory must have triggered in my brain. I did read this book before. I read it in the High School Library in a single sitting when i was 15 or 16. It's a simplistic story. One PoV. Simple sentences and a clear line of thought make it a swift read.

Not sure if it's the writer or just the fact that it's a YA book, but i like the simplicity of the writing. Not too flowery nor academic. He does tend to repeat things way too much. But the writing is sound. PoV is not an issue with a one-character survival story. Kids are enjoying it.

Very repetitious. At times unbearable. You can literally skip several sentences per page with no negative repercussions. And that's exactly what i did.

In fact, it makes the story clearer to skip the repetitive sentences. At first i thought it was because the main character hit his head and suffered a concussion. But No, that is the author's writing style blaring through the story. Not sure why he did it? Maybe he figured it would make his story more intense.

The word count could be cut by at least 1/3 with a proper edit.

I really enjoyed re-reading this book, though sadly I only picked it up when I learned of the author's recent passing. Such a quick read to describe what would absolutely feel like an indefinite amount of time, especially to a 13 year old but just as much for any adult lost in the wilderness with little hope of rescue.

My main takeaway throughout the entire narrative was "wow, there's no way I could do that" and I hold to that even after finishing. I don't know that I'd have the fortitude to do what's necessary to survive in the wild, and not just survive but actually have shelter and steady sources of food. I'm amazed at the main character's ability to reconcile his situation and force himself to focus on moving forward as best he could.

If you only look at the cover of the book, I think you will be wrong in guessing the story presented in this book. I did not expect this book to present a story that was outside of the speculations I had thought about.

The story is very exciting and unique, but there are some parts of this story that do not make sense to me and that is sometimes something that makes me get confused and amaze with this story. When Brian fell from the plane into the lake, I was flattered by his ability to get back up and I thought how could Brian, who was a child, be so mature and have extraordinary survival instincts, just imagine a 13 year old boy could do that. Survived for 52 days in the forest by only relying on his previous life experiences to find ways to eat and drink.

I also experienced a surge of emotions regarding the disappointment experienced by Brian in the middle of the story, where from that moment he began to change his thoughts on his previous identity to a new identity, but thankfully I was very happy with the ending of this story because it was as expected.

Read this when I was in the 5th grade. One of THE best books you can read as a kid. One of the best books you can read now. I just found out…that this is a SERIES!?!? kinda sorta freaking out.

It is so bad. I wanna give you a zero.
But that's not possible, so I give you.. A one.

I have read this book over and over several times and I still think this is a wonderful book. The story is about a boy named Brian Robinson who was traveling on a plane to go to his father. It was his first visit after his mom and dad has divorced. But, the pilot got a heart attack and Brian was left alone up in the air on the plane. Brian steered it and landed on a lake. He got out of it and he slept. He would have to survive with a hatchet which his mom had given him as a present, tennis shoes, and a windbreaker that has been ripped badly. Could he survive? And will the searchers find him? Read the book to find out.

I haven't read Gary Paulsen's wilderness survival novel, "Hatchet," (first published in 1986), since I was in fourth or fifth grade (and I read it by choice, not for class). I remembered feeling pretty neutral toward the novel, and thinking that the story picked up near the end.

I'm glad I reread this book in January 2020, absorbing the story as an adult. It's an incredibly realistic portrayal of a 13-year-old "city boy" (as the protagonist calls himself in the text) surviving a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness.

Paulsen writes with a quiet, literary style. I can understand why I wasn't wow'ed by this prose as a child. I still found the story pretty slow, but as an adult, I recognize the slow pace as the book's real strength, not a weakness. When the action picks up near the end, the story becomes profoundly moving. The emotional payoff just wouldn't exist if the novel had been written any other way.

This book is just so good. So good. I read the last page and felt like my heart had turned a few somersaults in my chest. I had to resist the urge to flip back to page one and immediately read it again.

I'm so glad that "Hatchet" has stood the test of time and emerged as a modern classic. This is a really great book.

Five stars. Highly recommended.

Great book about endurance and survival.

Чудова коротка робінзонада про підлітка, але не тільки для підлітків.

I taught this to my sixth graders, who had a hard time believing it was a classic. So did I, at times. Gary Paulsen takes some extreme liberties with the repetition, and there are some grammatical errors scattered throughout the book.

You can't beat that plot, though! Although there are some dry parts of the book where Brian just mopes around, for the most part it is easy for the average sixth grader to put himself or herself in Brian's shoes. It also made everyone want to go out and buy a hatchet for no reason. And we all felt really bad for Brian's dad.

Edit: I taught it again and I am really not a fan of Gary Paulsen's writing style. Baroque for four sentences and then suddenly. Staccato.

What teachers don't understand is that even if a book has a medal, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S INTERESTING. I absolutely love reading and I read daily, but this was so boring and predictable!!! I wish we could pick our own books to read for school.

First book of 2021 and wow what a choice! I really enjoyed this. If I was teaching this book I would have to do a comparison between this and Island of the Blue Dolphins, one about a very urban, sheltered boy learning to survive alone; the latter about an indigenous girl being abandoned and surviving alone. Both fantastic topics to teach and explore.
The survival aspect in this book is brilliantly explained to the reader especially the fact that it is mindset first, which any survivalist or military personnel will tell you. Great book to read, especially in these trying times.