Brian's Saga #1

El hacha

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Brian viaja en una avioneta como único pasajero. Va a reunirse con su padre que trabaja en unos campos petrolíferos. De repente, el piloto sufre un ataque cardiaco, muere, y la avioneta se precipita en las aguas del lago. Brian no tiene nada más que el hacha, que le regaló su madre al despedirse, para luchar e intentar sobrevivir.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1987

This edition

Format
144 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 1991 by Noguer y Caralt Editores / Lectorum Publications
ISBN
9788427932067
ASIN
8427932065
Language
Spanish; Castilian

About the author

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Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 105 votes)
5 stars
34(32%)
4 stars
29(28%)
3 stars
42(40%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
105 reviews All reviews
March 17,2025
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Hatchet is a Young Adult classic and award winner that I have heard a lot about over the years and have always wanted to read. I love it when I am searching for an audiobook and books like this pop up as available. I think, “Ah ha! I can finally get to this one!”

It did not take me long to get through Hatchet during my daily lunchtime walks. It held my interest throughout, but probably wasn’t even long enough to lose it! It is definitely geared toward pre and early teens – however, there are a couple of more difficult topics (like death and survival) that this might be a kids first introduction to (unless they are like me and started reading Stephen King at 12!) If my kids decide to try this one out, I will be there for them if they have any questions about it.

Should you read this book? It is not bad for a quick read, but it may prove to be too simple for some peoples’ tastes. If you can adjust your mindset and think of it like a 10- to 13-year-old would, I think you will appreciate it more. Luckily, as I mentioned it is not very long, you are not committing too much of your time if it ends up not being your cup of tea.
March 17,2025
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Hatchet is one of my 12-year-old son’s favorite books. Adventure, survival and suspense are all combined with the young protagonist’s struggle to understand his parents’ divorce. It is a great book. Brian Robeson, who is 13 years old, is flying in a bushplane from New York to Canada to visit his dad, when catastrophe strikes.

“He was sitting in a bushplane roaring seven thousand feet above the northern wilderness with a pilot who had suffered a massive heart attack and who was either dead or in something close to a coma.”

The plane goes down, which is no spoiler. Brian has a hatchet that his mother bought him for the trip, but that is about it. He is alone without food or shelter. There are bears and other wildlife. It is all scary stuff. And there is no telling whether anybody has any idea where he is, given how far off course the plan flew.

“He was dirty and starving and bitten and hurt and lonely and ugly and afraid and so completely miserable that it was like being in a pit, a dark, deep pit with no way out.”
March 17,2025
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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.
March 17,2025
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Gary Paulsen writes in only two emotions: fine and vomit-y. Someone may want to tell him that there are other ways to provoke a response in a reader than going right for the gut, so to speak. This book could have done with some fear and suspense, perhaps some gratification, depression, or joy. I do not mind a tragedy, nor do I balk at watching the man beaten down. I am a fan of Chekhov's.

If your idea of suspense is mosquito bites on your nipples, meet your Stephen King.
March 17,2025
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So when I was in the 7th grade, Mrs. Randall (formerly Sr. Mary Randall, an ex-nun) FORCED this pile of garbage upon me and the rest of my unsuspecting classmates. I was an advanced reader and it was a relatively short, easy to swallow book but it took me FOREVER TO READ IT. because it was THAT FUCKING BORING. It's about this stupid snot of a kid whose parents are getting divorced (mom and dad broke up! boo-hoo :'( i'm scarred for life now!) and somehow his plane goes down in the wilderness of Canada (which I can admit is the scariest fucking thing I can possibly think of. I'd rather be faced with the zombie apocalypse or a gang of mass murdering rapists than being stuck in the middle of Canada) so snot-face has to learn to survive on his own. He has a hatchet that his mom gave him (though I really can't say what possessed her to give her poor no-one-wants-me warning signs of future school shootings son a HATCHET, but she does) and he eventually stops crying and figures out how to pick berries and chop trees. Or saplings. Or something. I don't know. All I know is, this is the worst book EVER. UGH. And Mrs. "Ex-Nun" Randall made us watch the MOVIE, too. it was TORTURE.
March 17,2025
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look, I know some of yall have your nostalgia glasses on with this one, but 20% of this book is Gary Paulsen repeating the same sentences and we need to come to terms with how dumb it is that this 13 year old was able to operate a plane and not die in the wilderness because he happened to read a shitload of books and watch tv shows about these specific subjects.
March 17,2025
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Although Paulsen's books are directed at young boys, I do enjoy reading them on occasion. This is my favorite Paulsen book and recommend it to everyone, really, but especially young men.
March 17,2025
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I absolutely hated this book the first time I read it. It was required reading in Grade 6 and I finished it only because there were tests. Looking back, I can't quite remember what it was I disliked about it so much. I can only guess it was because I was a huge reader even then, but I hated being told what to read; it also took time away from my other books. Reading it again, 10 years later (and again at least once a year since) it has become one of my favorites, quite possibly in my top 10. I also recommend the sequels, particularly Brian's Winter which is great for those of us who ask what-if? at the end of a much loved book.
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