This is not a children’s book

So my wife picked up several free books for my son at a local School Academy event...the school is owned by the parents, so it is a private school, but not in the sense the word private school entails. Two of these books were the #1 Brian's Saga (first) and #5 Brian's Sage (last). This was not intentional and neither known until I picked up the second (#5) book to read. I have already provided a book review on Brian's Saga #1 (Hatchet), and just finished Brian's Hunt (#5) today.

Sometimes Gary Paulsen is spot on with hunting and the outdoors, and other times he is so far off it is shameful and embarrassing. I know this reader is for children, which they will believe the book not knowing any difference. When I read books like this, it just solidifies the reason we homeschool our son. Which was the purpose of getting these books, to find quality books for my son to read. He will not read this one.

I think I can share all this without giving away any spoilers, but be warned, after being disappointed with Book 1, and now highly disappointed with Book 5...I really don't care if I do or I don't.

The story starts with Brian going back to the wilderness again to spend time alone because he can't deal with society...I can Identify with that. The book starts out on a positive note. Then turns sour fast, especially for a Home School parent, when it is said that Brian is "Homeschooled"...yet we find out he is still enrolled in school...that is not Homeschool. Gary, I am assuming, is a Public School Teacher who is ignorant of what Homeschool is. It is when parents teach their kids without government assistance.

OK...so it is said that the story is about Brian saving a dog and going on a bear hunt. The writing was better this time than in Hatchet, no stop and go, herky-jerky writing. But then the book opens with Brian thinking about things he did in Book 1 that never happened in Book 1. You can't do that.

And just to call out that Brian can't tell the difference in sounds from a hawk to an eagle after being a wilderness boy...but can do all these other amazing wilderness things...it lessens your view of Brian not to understand something so simple and easy. For the record, hawks make a high-pitched screeching sound, where eagles sound more like a whistle.

Ok...gear...Brian takes everything but the kitchen sink with him. I know of hunters that go on a 10 day hunting trip and may take a max of 24 arrows...many of these are to practice with though and never go to the woods. The average quiver holds 6 arrows with some holding 8 (yes, other variations do exist) - most go to the woods with 6 arrows. I did a count, Brian takes...and I am not making this up...drum roll please...100 Shafts, 78 field points, and 50 broadheads. Plus...plus...equipment to make more arrows. And lugs this all in a canoe for 30 miles. Try to wrap your head around believing that one. It would have been more believable that Brian took a knife, made his own wooden arrows, and used grouse feathers for the fletching and tied them on Native American style.

It mentions the other supplies and equipment he takes and by this time his canoe has sunk...twice over. It just is not feasible the canoe can support all this weight, and he loads and unloads the canoe many times while crossing beaver dams. Preposterous! Write me a story I can believe!

The author states that Brian takes MA3 Special Ops Military Broadheads with him...broadheads were not invented by the military, and the MA3 broadhead has been around since the 1940s...not invented by the military. Again, we homeschool for a reason, and gross misinformation like this is one of them.

Paulson is right on one point - most kids can study for a test and pass if they put themselves to it...yet forget everything they studied, not really learning. That is the public school method of teaching...if you can pass a test, you must have learned something. Not exactly.

Now here I must digress - my next book coming out is about Africa, and I have never been to Africa.
I am sure some people will say I got it all wrong, and maybe I did. However, realizing I am not from Africa, and have never visited Africa, meant I had to deliver accuracy in my story - I checked and double checked my facts, I talked to knowledgeable people,  and I stayed within the confines of what I felt comfortable writing about without writing about things of Africa I did not know. Maybe one day I will get to visit Africa and make a second edition.

Moving on...

Paulsen states that venison has little Nutrional value and is low in protein. As an avid deer hunter, this is all wrong, and completely opposite. A buck is not fat and tough - if cooked properly a buck is some of the best eating that exists. And that fact that Brian shot a buck instead of a moose so that he could eat the meat in one day perplexes me. The smallest dear I've ever taken...and it was small...weighed 50 lbs. live weight and provided 35 lbs. of meat. Assuming the deer Brian killed was this size (not possible it could have been smaller), then I'd like to really see a 16 year old boy eat 35 lbs. of meat in 24 hours.

And how is Paulsen getting around all the fish and game laws Brian is breaking? In Book 1 it is done for survival, but in Book 5 it is done out of pleasure...with no license...a federal violation regardless of age. Paulsen is encouraging children to poach. Not just deer, but fish as well. And bears.

And then Paulsen has the audacity to knock Jack London, saying he didn't know dogs. Well, Jack London (one of my favorite authors) actually lived his stories. I am not sure what else to say here...but Paulsen is wrong, and needed to do more research on London and his amazing life before knocking him.

And then...and then Brian has a moment with Susan, that saves the book, and it is because of that moment I regrettably give the book 3-Stars. The book is worth reading for that moment, and that moment only.

And then it falls flat again. I would say why, but that would give away spoilers for sure.

Brian finds a buck scrape in what seems to be spring or late spring...bucks scrape only in the Fall and Winter months...we are in Canada in this book shall I remind you.

Paulsen should have stopped there, but he had to write an Afterword which only adds to his ignorance...there is no record of a killer whale ever killing a human...the reason is because they are not whales but dolphins misnamed...and dolphins protect people from sharks. There are documented accounts of killer whales helping and saving humans. The fact that they are dolphins is what drives them to kill every great white shark they come across.

And lastly, if anyone is still with my ramblings, and I apologize, this book had me all over the place: Mr. Paulsen...shame on you for living in bear country and not securing your dogs enough to let a bear come in and kill them. You knew better.

Great quick sequel in The Hatchet series.

Interesting. Whereas the previous book of this series, Brian's Return, picks up the story at the end of The River (the first sequel to 1988 Newbery Honoree Hatchet), Brian's Hunt instead follows Brian's Winter, the alternate sequel to Hatchet. Rather than Brian serendipitously releasing a radio signal from the airplane's communicator at the bottom of the lake adjacent to where he was stranded in the Canadian wilderness and subsequently being rescued, he had to bunker down and withstand the ungodly winter of the extreme American north. After making it through the worst of winter, he found refuge with a Cree trapper named David Smallhorn and his family, who contacted the authorities and arranged to reunite Brian with his parents. Whether or not the events of The River and Brian's Return can be finessed to fit with this alternative plot that leads to Brian's Hunt, our now sixteen-year-old protagonist has all the connections and bonus knowledge of the outdoors he accrued in Brian's Winter, and his ties to the Smallhorn family are key to what happens next as he returns to the wilderness life with his parents' consent. After beating the odds to survive his first stint in the wild, Brian has found it difficult to reintegrate with his former life. His instincts are honed to such a sharp edge that he reverts to fight-or-flight response too easily, and that makes him do inappropriate things in urbane society. Brian finds that he's happier living isolated in the woods, at least for periods of time. He's not planning to forsake his parents and modern existence completely, but the new Brian needs plenty of alone time if he's to live up to social expectations when he's back in civilization. The vast Canadian bush is his home now, as much as the house he shares with his mother, and he grows more comfortable with that reality each time he ventures into the forest and reconnects with the part of his soul he left there.

The ability to hunt from a canoe is Brian's decisive advantage over his woodland prey. Birds, fish, moose, and bears mentally register the small, drifting boat as a log, giving Brian opportunity to get a close shot with his bow and arrow. Brian had to develop proper hunting technique right away to survive his first go-round with the wild, and his skills rarely fail him now. More often than not, however, he passes up open shots at large animals that would provide plentiful game, unwilling to kill anything he can't cook and consume before most of the meat spoils. But Brian's focus changes when a big dog seeks him out along the riverbank, badly injured and crying for help. As Brian tends to the Malamute's serious wounds, he tries to figure what could have caused the deep, slashing cuts in the animal's magnificent fur. The nature of the damage points to a wolf or bear, but this dog is clearly domesticated, so why would she have left her master after a ferocious animal hurt her? Wouldn't it make sense to seek treatment from her master for the bloody lacerations she sustained? Every avenue of speculation leads to a dead end for Brian, but his instincts urge him to follow the river immediately in his canoe with the dog, toward the island inhabited by David Smallhorn and his wife and children, to find out if they can shed light on the disquieting mystery. Heading north as quickly as possible, Brian can't shake the dread filling his stomach, the primal apprehension that something awful beyond description awaits up north even as he knows he must go there and confront it.

In the same spirit of unrestricted frontier warfare that defined Brian's Return, Brian's Hunt winds rapidly toward its whirlwind climax, a battle of wilderness savvy between man and beast that both cannot survive. Brian has sought sanctuary in the bush not because he enjoys slaughtering animals for food or in self-defense, but because his kinship with the wild is as natural and sublime as man's reflexive breathing. He doesn't derive any thrill from killing animals, but recognizes that feeding on them is necessary for autonomous sustenance out here away from convenience stores and banks. Killing is sometimes required to stop a predatory threat, as well, or to right a wrong when a savage animal crosses the line and perpetrates violence against humans that can't be ignored or tolerated. Brian understands these rules of nature as well as anyone, but he's also starting to discover a wilderness concept that's new to him: Man, even should he desire to be by himself, needs the company of others. He needs someone to share his thoughts between extended silences, to help bear his existential burden by kindling a fire of friendship to ward off the dismal cold of aloneness as surely as a campfire emits lifesaving heat on deathly winter nights. Without fire, man can't survive long in the bush, but without a friend he can't truly live, and for the first time since his airplane crashed in the wilderness when he was thirteen, Brian feels the benefits of kinship when he takes the injured dog under his wing and they team up to face the horror that chased the dog from home. Their journey will change everything for boy and dog.

The fourth and fifth Brian's Saga novels aren't as captivating as Hatchet, The River, and Brian's Winter, but they make their own valuable contribution to the series. Brian's Return has been described as Henry David Thoreau for the junior set, and there's some of that naturalistic philosophy in Brian's Hunt, the acceptance and espousal of harsh realities about man living as part of nature and the footprint he leaves regardless of how conscientious he is to limit it. Aside from the excitement of the climactic pursuit, Brian's Hunt makes salient points about our need for relationships, the validation we find in the presence of others no matter how much a loner we fancy ourselves. People need each other, there's no getting around that. The question is, what will we do to address that need? I might consider giving Brian's Hunt two and a half stars, and I never tire of being transported by Gary Paulsen to settings of wilderness intrigue beyond anything I've imagined, that can be found right here in our contemporary world. We're better off for having been influenced by Brian's Saga, and I hope the series helps readers discover truths about themselves and the wondrous world surrounding them forever. That's a legacy befitting Gary Paulsen, and I have little doubt it will come to fulfillment.

The book takes place in a forest in Canada. Brian stays near a lake and moves around the open land and meets a village. He has found friends and is hoping to return to meet a girl he is in loved with. During his survival adventure he was fishing and went to bed. He goes to bed in a canoe on the lake so land animals wont bother him. Although while he was trying to sleep he heard some weird noises. He couldn't figure out what the noise was so he went to shore to get a closer look. He saw a dog like shadow and thought is was a wolf so he waited till morning. After all it was a dog that was severely injured from the side so Brian started taking care of it. The dog soon became his body but Brian wanted to find the owner so they set of for a adventure.

I don't like or dislike the book.The reason being is i read the series all messed up so i don't understand it well.On the other hand if maybe i were to read it from the start it would be different. For example ill understand it and comprehend with it.I recommend the book and the whole series to be honest. Its a really good series in general and maybe this will help you. Hopefully you don't read the series all messed up and don't know whats happening in the story. I would rate it 3 stars for it because it also was boring in some parts of the story.

The reason I gave this book a 4 star rating is because it is a very good book and it is filled with action. What happened in this book was after Brian was rescued. He decided to stay out in the wild and live of the land. After awhile he decided to go and pay a visit to the family that saved him and came to find that they were all killed by a bear. So Brian becomes determined to find the bear that killed his friends and kill it. Brian went through a lot during the hunt for the bear and even befriends a dog and takes care of it so he isn't alone all the time in the wild.
I would recommend this book to somebody because it is a awesome book filled with a lot action. If I was to recommend this book to anyone it would be a male between the ages of 9-19.

I have read a book named Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen. This book is in the genre of fiction which is the 5th book about Brian Robeson’s life. I have written a book review for the book The Hatchet so I recommend that you check that out. Anyways, this all brings you into Brian’s 5th adventure where it involved Brian, one hatchet and one dog. I read this book as a physical paper copy and I chose this series because my mom and brother recommended it to me after my brother read The Hatchet. The main characters in this book are mostly Brian and a couple of other people who are rarely mentioned in the book. The setting takes place in the woods and does not take place anywhere else.
It all started when Brian was talking a little bit about his life and what he had accomplished from his last adventures. He then went along and then started to talk about how he makes bows and what he used to make them. In the previous books since he did not have a lot of weapons or sometimes he did not have his Hatchet with him, he had to improvise and make an arrow with something. He used many things like rocks, stones etc. but he then went to a nearby shop and got the supplies he needed. Anyway, after fiddling around with making bows and arrows, he had to make a shelter using wood, build a fire using wood and make fire using his trusty hatchet and then get started with catching some fish. After all of this he repeated this for days until he got comfortable and settled. One night he had heard a noise that awakened him that was some rustling in the leaves. He just thought it was some animal or something so he ignored it and went back to sleep. After this, he heard some whimpering and woke up to see that there was a wounded female dog in the moonlight.
In the daytime, he took a good look at the dog and saw that on one side, her coat was ripped and bloody. He was kind of panicking at this point on what to do and he was not too sure. After some time of getting stressed for nothing, he went and sewed the dog’s open wound with a fishing line. Brian knew that it was not the best but it was the best he could do for the dog. He immediately got to work and fed and cared for the dog. He was happy that he had a champ by his side because as they say dogs are man’s best friend. Anyway, he made sure that he and the dog had enough to eat and drink. After that, he started to wonder if it was some raccoon or something with sharp claws that hurt and tore the dog’s skin open. He was not too sure but he was not going to give up on trying to figure out on what hurt the dogs.
He also has some friends that live near the creek of the lake where Brian is temporarily living. Their names are David, Anne and Susan and they live near Brian but not close but not far away either. Anyway he went to them and tried to talk to them about what it might have been that could in the future attack David, Anne and Susan. It then hit him if it was a bear that could have seriously hurt and wounded the dog. A couple days later, he got ready to go fight the bear and a few times he had attempted to kill the bear but he got no luck and the bear wounded them both, the dog and Brian.
Brian did not give up nor did he stop. He got back up on his feet and he did not care if he failed or not but he got back up and he fought like he never did like before. He got up and shot that bear and that was the end for the bear. Everyone was so relieved by now because they do not have to worry about a bear trying to get Brian all of the time and even the dog. We also do not have to worry about the bear trying to get his other friends by the creek. After some time of searching, he sadly found dead bodies of David and Annie. They also had a couple of dogs too and they were also found dead. The bear had worn them to pieces and he was sad to see their faces and so ripped up and laying there all bloody and the same for the dogs, they were all torn up and dead. Brian was very sad but he had no other choice to just bury them in the dirt but this did not stop him from being the kind-hearted person he always was.
In my opinion, this book was a very fun book to read and I think that everyone should read this book. If you really want to read this book and not the whole series then go ahead but for the best results, I recommend reading the whole series instead of just getting to this book. Every book is just like this one but Brian has different adventures that pack a big punch. Anyway, I would recommend this book to all of my classmates and friends because I think that any age group will like this book. Second of all, I think this book is suitable for both boys and girls but if you are into books that have suspense like the “what's going to happen next”? kind of thing I think that you guys will enjoy this type of book and I also think people who like action, mystery and adventure will like this book too. I think this book is appropriate for probably grades 3-4 and up in my opinion but this may be different for others who read this book. I just think that whoever is in these certain grade groups would understand the book more because this book has a lot of events and is hard to keep track of at first but once you read and get the hang of any book in general, you will be able to notice the events that are happening in the book. Another thing that I also recommend is that I think the english teacher Mrs. DeSimone should read this book because I think that she will like all of the action, suspense and mystery that happens in this book.
To conclude, I feel that I did a very excellent job reading over this Marking Period. I would everyday (except Friday) update Goodreads and would also read 4 times a week instead of 1 day out of the week because I think that if I read 1 time a week, I would get nowhere with any of the books I read in the past and I would have been stuck on Brian’s Saga till now. To add on, I feel like I could just stick to reading 4 times a week and you may ask “Why can’t you read Friday”? To answer your questions, I use this day as a break day for reading and I count this as my reward day so I have time to do other things that I want to do. Lastly, I feel like I am going to stick with my 30 minutes of reading and me reading 4 times a week and I think that will be enough and I will continue to do this till the end of the school year.

It was good, and gorry

I read Brians Hunt because I've read parts of it before but not the whole thing. Iv'e wanted to read this book before but I never had the time to. I now relize that this book is really good and really liked it. Gary Paulsen is a really good author. I've read books by him before, but this is my favorite book by far because it involves fishing, hunting, tracking, and killing a bear. Overall the book was good and I think that it was an easy read.

Brian is a young kid who gets lost in the woods and needs to make best of his resources

The title of the book is Brian’s Hunt. The author of the book is Gary Paulsen. The main character in the book is Brian. I recommend to have lot of people read my summary. I also want my story to be famous. One day Brian is in the way of wilderness. He is bored so he was thinking about wild animal beside the lily pad. Then thinking and thinking he became hungry so he open the box that the bring. He take out the arrow. He have 18 arrow but he don’t have bow so how will he shot? He make a big heavy bow. At that time he was just 16 year old. He don’t want to waste anything that he have so he pulled the arrow as hard as he can and he pulled out. He heard a yelling sound so he stop the canoe and go in the forest. He saw his friend called Kay-gwa daush. He is scared to see him because he accidently use the arrow and hit his face. So he quickly leave the forest and go back to the canoe.

tAfter 3 hour he got to the wilderness and remember his old story. Once he was going to his house by airplane, because of the big tornado so the plane crash, but every was dead only he was survived. Then he leave the plane and walking and walking then he saw lot of wild animal and the wild animal are hungry and saw Brian so go and eat, but Brian saw the big bush and hide in there. Then in the bush he saw a axe so he took it and discover the wild animal attack by no eating and no drinking. But at last he survived and went to his house. After that problem he never understand what the teacher say. How much he tried he understand nothing at school. First time at school his classmate very like him, but now they think Brian is stupid so nobody make friend with him. So he was very angry so he leave the city and went to the forest.

tThen he have no place to sleep so he make a camp. After he make the camp the time is also 6 o'clock so he think that there must be very many work tomorrow so he start sleeping. In the midnight he heard a strange sound and he wake up. Then he leave the camp but when he leave the camp there is no more sound. But after he come out from the camp he can’t sleep anymore so he lay down and look at the moon. He was sleepy so he though that the moon is closer to him. Then he heard the same sound that he heard when was sleeping. Then he go in the bush and catch that animal that is making sound so know that it was a skunk pooping sound. He cant sleep so he go on to the canoe and going. He saw a injured dog. He atraly want to kill him but the dog look friendly to him so he stop the canoe and help the dog. Then after helping him the dog want to stay with him but he has no reponaly to have a dog. The dog really want to stay with him, Brian also know that the dog want to stay with him so brian called him together to find Susan.

t
tWhen he was on the canoe he saw a forest that the tree is cut down and everywhere are flat. He want to go there so he stop the canoe and went in that scary place. When he was walking and walking, he got to the cabin. He saw lot of mosquito on the cabin. He don’t care and go in to the cabin with the dog. He saw lot of body that have pulled by 2 parts. There are kay-gwa daush, kay-gwa daush father and kay-gwa daush mother.There is also Susan father and Susan mother. He don’t saw Susan so he thought that Susan ran away. He went to the other forest and wait for Susan. He know that Susan that she will went there. Then he wait 3 hour then Susan cames. At that time he already know his family all dies. They go back to the cabin and put the body in the sand. Susan called police to take her to the city. When the police came, the police called Susan into the jet and went back to the city. He went back to the canoe to kill the bear.

tHe took the bow, the arrow, the dog, a plain dark T-shirt and dark green pullover and left the canoe. Because of the dog he can find the way where the bear live. He saw the bear and hold up the bow and take the arrow and pulled out the arrow. But at that time the bear saw Brian and quickly run. The bear is so fast so he don’t know where the bear is and he guess a place and shot it. It hurt to bear tomy. It make a bear no damage. Then Brian use another arrow and poke to the bear tomy when the bear came. Then the bear did. Brian eat the 500 pound bear meat.

Juvenile / Middle Grade
Realistic Fiction
Nature / Adventure / Survival

Last/fifth book in the Hatchet series

Brian hunts a bear in the last book in the Hatchet series.