I was rather disappointed in this sequel to Hatchet. One, because it was so short, but mostly because the plot stretched the limits of believability. So the government needs to be able to train people to survive in the wilderness with nothing on them in the way of preparedness like Brian, except maybe a hatchet, but in the whole world there is not one single adult who has done this or knows how to do it? Not one???? No men or women who are into extreme adventures, or even some survivalist type people? No one???? The only person qualified to teach somebody how to survive is a 15 year old boy? And he's supposed to teach this government guy who will then go back and teach others, but the dude has no wilderness experience at all? I mean the guy doesn't even have the sense not to stand up and grab onto something electrical during a lightning storm! Seriously, where do they find these guys?

I'm probably going to read the next 4 books in the series. I do kinda want to find out what happens next. But maybe the author should have stopped after Hatchet.

It was a good and exciting book. Its a good short read for people who like a good ending and iteresting read

It's essentially the same book as the first, but now he does it for money

PERSONAL RESPONSE:
I found The River to be a very interesting, intriguing book. With Brian having gone through something like this before, I thought this journey of his would be easy. I didn't think that Derek would have survived being struck by lightning.

PLOT:
In this book, Brian is sent back out into the woods, except this time, he has Derek there observing him to see how he survives. They are there for three days before a thunder storm hits. There is massive lightning strikes all around, and one unluckily strikes Derek. The next day, Brian wakes up to find that Derek is in a coma. From that point on, Brian is dedicated to bring Derek down the river 100 miles to the nearest outpost. He won't let one of his friends die out in the wilderness like this.

CHARACTERIZATION:
The main protagonist of the story is Brian, who bravely takes a perilous journey down a river in order to save his friend Derek's life. Derek is the second main character in the story that has been struck by lightning, and now has to be taken to the nearest outpost by Brian if he ever has a chance to stay alive much longer.

SETTING:
This book takes place out in the middle of a giant forest in central America in the year of 1991. Brian is being put here again to be studied with his behaviors on how he is able to survive for a long time without a lot of materials. Due to them not having anything available, Derek had a greater chance of dying in a coma after getting struck by lightning.

THEMATIC CONNECTIONS:
Throughout the book The River Brian shows many signs of him being a hero. When Derek was struck by lightning, Brian took it upon himself to take Derek downstream, in order to get him to the nearest camp. On his way down the river, he faced many challenges that he had to overcome. He had shown loyalty when Derek and Brian were separated by a raging current, and Brian came back to find Derek to continue. Brian had shown bravery throughout the book by taking the dangerous journey down the river in order to save his friend's life. Anyone who reads this book, can learn from Brian.

RECOMMENDATION:
I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 13 of any gender.

I thought the book The River, by Gary Paulsen was a pretty good book, but I didn't think it was that interesting. It was a little too short and did not have enough action. I think that the first book, Hatchet, was much better. It was about a boy who had previously been stranded ind the Canadian woods. He is asked to go back and redo it to show researchers his survival techniques. When the researcher gets struck by lightning and goes into a coma, he must build a raft and get the man down the river to a trading post.

This book was very well written. I thought that the whole time he kept me in the edge of my sweet and I didn’t know what would come next. Brian gets a knock on his door about wanting to go on another survival trip to help Derek (the guy at his door) k ow more about surviving and actually having the experience like Brian had. Derek convinced Brian and they go twice and get stared for good the second time while Derek is put into a coma after being stuck my lighting in the middle of the night. Overall this is a amazing book and I encourage anyone who likes a good adventure or who like bushcraft or outdoors should read this book!

The book I read was The River by Gary Paulsen. This story is the sequel to the book Hatchet. The main character is Brian, after his time in the forest a few men asked him to teach and show them how to survive, so they can teach others. Something goes wrong in the book that makes Brian go through the same thing in Hatchet, except he has someone with him. Brian is a brave and strong teenager that has gone through so much and had learned a lot from nearly dying and starving. He does seem like a believable character because some people have the ability to learned and move forward to live while some may give up, but all the pain he has been through will change him forever. I really like this book because it filled the void that Hatchet left and gave a lot of adventure and excitement.

People compare this book to Hatchet I personally think Hatchet worse than this book. For people who think it is just one "misadventure" after another must not have great taste in books. This book consists of all the fundamentals of a great book; action, adventure, love, humor. It isn't as much as getting into the "mishaps" but how he gets out of them. Brian having save someone while also having to survive the harsh conditions of the Candadian wilderness was intriging. Paddling down the river was awfully slow. various other things were slow, too. Altogether this book was desent but deffinently not the best.

“He realized that he was not always right, was, indeed, often not right, and at the same time he found that others were not always wrong.” The book I read is The River by Gary Paulsen. The River is a realistic fiction novel. First, I like when Brian has to take on the challenge of going back into the woods and surviving for a second time. Secondly, I like when Brian is trying to teach how he survived but Derek is suddenly struck by lightning. This tests Brian’s survival skills because he has to survive and get Derek help. Next, I like when Brian is paddling for a long time, he is exhausted and falls asleep on the raft. Brian wakes up and spots a roof of a house and paddles there, he is then saved and gets Derek to safety. Lastly, I didn’t like that Brian went back and tried to teach Derek how he survived in the woods. It was a bad idea because he knew it was a very traumatic experience for him and he still went. It didn’t work out well because Derek was struck by lightning.

Meh. This book is great as a children's book. Filled with quick action. Easy to read. Not too many characters. A simple adventure that the reader can easily enjoy and place themselves in the action. I like how Brian makes the point that he has changed after his initial adventure. It was not something that was easy or fun. He became more introverted, felt he saw the world in a different way, and even reacted differently when he was next in the woods. He kind of exhibits slight symptoms of PTSD, which is understandable from the viewpoint of an adult reader, but perhaps not something that a child reader would have expected.

Perhaps I'm being unfair in starting this review with "meh," but I guess I was hoping for more. More introspection. More character development. More details. More like an adult book. So I guess I should have picked up an adult book, huh? My bad..... But this was still an enjoyable read.

3.5 stars

My boys and I had a discussion about this book, and the consensus was that the way the whole plot seemed to be set up on coincidence stretched their disbelief. (And annoyed my 11 yo, who is a much pickier reader than the rest of us, it seems.) *But* that didn't stop them from clamoring for "just one more chapter" through the whole book. Gary Paulsen writes amazing, intense action scenes, and I love his descriptions of how things are done--whether it's building a raft or making a bed out of pine boughs. Well worth the read, no matter what you think of the events that set the story in motion.

So what gets Brian back out in the woods is somewhat silly, yet once he's there it gets pretty good and you feel much the same way as the first. Then all the sudden toward the end, it feels like he rushes all the way to the end and it's over.

The book is not perfect and it's still worthy to be in this series.

I think it's funny that a psychologist goes with him. He's trying to write down everything he says. So funny, I can totally see that happening. It's too bad he didn't get a better experience.