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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Great adventure story for young adults. This was my family's introduction to Paulsen and it was a treat. Intense in places, not for very young children but very insightful and heartwarming. Teaches important lessons about self-reliance, character, determination, etc., while never becoming preachy. Story at its best.

My name is Brian Robeson and I am thirteen years old and I am alone in the north woods of Canada.

Brian Robeson’s mother and father recently divorced. Nothing much was said about it, but Brian knew the reason because he knew the Secret. He lives in New York with his mother, but is headed to Canada to spend the summer with his father. He boards the Cessna 406 and makes his way north with his belongings in a suitcase and a hatchet hooked in his belt—a present given to him by his mother on the ride to the airport. This last-minute gift would tip the scales between almost-certain death and survival as Brian’s plane goes down in the Canadian wilderness and this city boy faces decisions that he never imagined he would be making.

This Newbery Honor book was challenged for its graphic descriptions of trauma and injury and removed from school libraries in Tennessee for its sexual content and violent imagery. Hatchet has a recommended reading age of nine to twelve so it was banned from elementary school libraries. As this story deals with survival, some portions of this book are graphic (especially the scene describing the pilot’s death), but nothing that would tremendously affect a typical fourth grader who hungrily clamors for the next installation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Also, the “sexual content” reference refers to Brian witnessing his mother sitting in a car and kissing a man who is NOT his father so don’t let this be a major red flag if your youngster reaches for this book.

I liked how Paulsen uses repetition in his writing to build suspense (He was stopped. Inside he was stopped. He could not think past what he saw, what he felt. All was stopped.) or to reinforce urgency (He had to fly somehow. Had to fly the plane. He had to help himself. The pilot was gone, beyond anything he could do. He had to try and fly the plane.). This is incredibly effective—especially with this age group—and although he incorporates it often throughout the book, it never becomes tedious or loses its impact. Also, Brian’s learning curve is inline with someone of his age. Although raised in the city, he pulls lessons he’s either learned in school or seen on the screen and these allow him to adapt to his situation and surroundings. He quickly realizes that self-pity and panic are only liabilities and quickly discounts them as useful reactions to his predicament. He systematically and logically approaches his obstacles and begins to understand the importance and necessity of not merely surviving day by day, but also preparing for the future. The reader witnesses Brian’s evolution and although we mourn the innocence that he’s lost, we applaud him for the bigger lessons that he’s learned about life and what’s truly important and necessary.

Gary Paulsen died in 2021 and during his lifetime—having written over 200 books throughout his career—was one of the most challenged authors of the 21st century according to the American Library Association. Because several of his books were banned because his writing was just “too realistic” speaks volumes to just how gifted a storyteller Paulsen was and why he continues to amass such a large and loyal fan base. Just as Brian changes throughout the story, I hope that we too continue to evolve and begin to realize just how important stories like Paulsen’s are in showing young readers the importance of believing in yourself, the downside of underestimating your abilities, and the courage it takes to wake up each morning with a renewed sense of determination and hope. How can anyone think of banning a book such as this?

My first foray into childhood favorites for one unlikely-to-succeed purpose: converting my brother from books about Harry Potter to books about anything else, in the world. Any suggestions?

When I first read Hatchet, at around ten or twelve, I devoured it time and time again. The idea of learning wilderness survival with nothing but a hatchet and my own wits prickled the pores of my baby-smooth chest with visions of man-hair, tufts and tufts of it, more than I knew what to do with, for after finishing a book about a boy-turned-man's hard-earned survival in the rugged wilderness surely I myself would become a man (I confess to having the same thought at least once when re-reading it at twenty-seven).

The book itself holds up as a taut, economically told story, no real flourishes to speak of, and yet when my brother read the first chapter, he woke me up to tell me it was weird. I tried to tease him with upcoming action beat - "there's a plane crash in the next chapter," I told him, at which point he went downstairs to play Super Mario Galaxy.

Excellent survival story. Very engaging. The audio book was also done well. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five, is because I didn't care for the beginning of the story and how it handled the subject of divorce. I found it unnecessary and slightly inappropriate for younger aged children.