I really enjoyed this book, the way it was written it really pulled me in and I felt like I had front row seats to the book. Nice book.

tGary Paulsen’s Brian’s Winter gives an alternate ending to his prequel, Hatchet. In Hatchet, a boy named Brian becomes stranded in the Canadian wilderness after his pilot dies and his plane crashes. He survives summer and gets rescued. Brian’s Winter tells his story of not being rescued and having to suffer through the harsh Canadian winter. The genre of this book is adventure fiction.
tFall had just begun for Brian, which took him a while to figure that out. In about two weeks, he had eaten all of the food that was in the survival pack he retrieved from the plane. The survival pack supplied Brian with food and supplies, including a rifle, which broke when he was hunting one day. As a result, Brian had to go back to using a bow and arrow that he was not accurate with due to him using the gun more often. He had become well acquainted with animals and began to figure out how they live, especially the wolves. The wolves marked their territory frequently, as Brian saw this, he began to mark his territory so that the wolves would leave him alone. On the other hand, a bear did not respect Brian’s territory. It came into his camp, destroyed it, and left Brian thrown away from the camp. After he recuperated from the attack, he had to think of how to stay warm during the harsh winter. Brian began to save the skins of the animals he killed to use them as clothing. In addition, he brought the fire into his shelter, which kept him very warm. He made a bigger bow and arrows to kill large game for fur and food, which he needed to store during the winter. After Brian killed a deer, a skunk came and threatened him for food. The two became good friends, which was depicted after the skunk sprayed a bear away from Brian’s camp. As spring comes along, Brian hears loud noises in the distance that he was not familiar with. SPOILER ALERT: He headed in the direction of the noises and found a trapping family who brought him in, fed him, and protected him until he exited the wilderness.
tI would give Brian’s Winter a four out of five rating. I always like reading about books that have to do with wildlife and adventure because I can relate to them. Also, this book keeps the reader on the edge of their seats. Anything can happen in the wilderness, and Gary Paulsen displays that very well in his book. I highly recommend Brian’s Winter to any reader but suggest reading Hatchet first.

Dit is het verhaal van wat er met Brian Robeson zou zijn gebeurd als hij aan het eind van Neergestort niet was gered en alleen door de koude winter in Noord-Canada moest komen.

De Winter is boek over een jongen genaamd Brian die de winter in de Canadese wildernis moet overleven nadat zijn vliegtuig was neergestort. Brian richtte zijn basiskamp op ongeveer vijftig meter van het meer en ongeveer vijftig meter van het bos.

Hij mist bijna de tekenen dat de winter komt, maar wanneer hij het eindelijk snapt, realiseert hij zich dat hij veel werk te doen heeft. Er zijn veel dingen die hij voor zichzelf zal moeten leren, maar de grootste daarvan is uitzoeken hoe je warm kunt blijven en hoe je voedsel kunt vinden als de temperatuur ver onder 0° daalt.

Ik heb echt genoten van de creatieve kant van dit boek, omdat Brian veel dingen moest improviseren om hem in leven te houden, maar ook om hem de winter door te helpen en hem te huisvesten. Wat me een beetje tegenstaat in dit boek was het einde. Brian vind een blokhut die net iets buiten de grens van zijn ontdekkingstochten ligt. Dan blijkt dat de bewoner van die blokhut al enige tijd wist dat er iemand in de omgeving 'kampeerde'.

(Het is een beetje lastig dat in de Nederlandse vertaling dit het 2e boek in de serie is, maar in de Engelse taal de derde).

tBefore reading Brian’s Winter, I wasn’t aware of how being alone through hardship can mold and shape someone into a completely different person. After reading this book by Gary Paulsen, I can confidently declare that I have a more profound understanding of this topic than ever before because of Paulsen’s depiction of winter survival. In this thrilling sequel to Hatchet, another Gary Paulsen read, the protagonist Brian must learn how to survive the coldest months of the year with only himself and a hatchet. He has to teach himself how to skin animals, cook meat, sustain an insulated shelter and hunt game. However, as the chilling cold settles on the seemingly endless forest, Brian faces a daunting decision: continue his journey to survive or give in to the frigid depths of winter.
tI thoroughly enjoyed this book because it showed insight into the mind of the main character and elaborated on his thought process as new conflicts arose. Every time Brian would encounter a different problem than the one before, he could actively be seen growing and developing as a character and person. I was also immensely fond of this novel because of the changes of pacing as the story progressed. At times, it felt like time slowed down and you could truly feel the hope slipping away from Brian. At other times, the speed would increase and cause extreme angst, especially when Brian would have to defend himself against all kinds of tough animals. From reading this title, I learned that overcoming demanding challenges can fortify the will of even the weakest people. I recommend this book to any student or young adult starting their reading journey, as it is a greatly amusing and engaging story.

This was a book I needed to read for school, so all in all it was okay, but not enjoyable. This book was intended to be a different ending to the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I personally liked Hatchet way better.

Many people who read Gary Paulsen’s series of books about Brain Robeson wondered how he would have fared in the Canadian winter if he had not gotten out before the winter set in. Personally, I greatly enjoy reading books about adventure and surviving, so I could not wait to read this book. Living in the wilderness in the summer is one thing, but to survive in the winter is a whole different story. This is why it would be such a big test for Brian. I rated this book five out of five stars because Gary Paulsen does such a great job of giving detailed scenes of Brian’s struggles and is, what I thought to be, more revealing than “Hatchet”. I’d recommend this book to mainly male readers or anyone who enjoys survival.

I had the same problem with this book as Hatchet. It was repetitive. But this one gets an extra star because it wasn't as repetitive. I still didn't enjoy the book, as it felt like it was the same format as Hatchet, it was repetitive only this time in the winter. I'm kind of disappointed with Brian's Winter and Hatchet because the concept of being stranded and having to survive are good, it's just that the books aren't good.

This book may be the equal of its predecessor Hatchet, and reaching that level of accomplishment twice in one series is impressive.

Brian's Winter is a supremely sensuous experience, bringing the reader into a world in which the bitter frigidity of the cold, the mad panic of being run down by a furious five-hundred-pound moose, the insane driving hunger of days and weeks on end without proper nourishment, and the awesome splendor of nature all come to life in the mind's eye as if the reader were experiencing it in person. Brian's Winter is a beautiful survival story with no fake adornments to pretty up the situation, offering a crucial lesson even if we never spend a day in the wilderness ourselves: life is about taking whatever comes and surviving somehow, even when the odds are stacked against you, because that's all anyone can do. No matter how bad things get, the one constant is the neverending struggle to see another sunrise.

Brian's Winter delivers its lessons as powerfully as Hatchet; it is not a book to be missed, and will impact my thinking for a long time.

A note on the cover art by Neal McPheeters: it's somewhat a change of stylistic pace for Gary Paulsen, but gorgeously conveys the foreboding feel of deep, deadly winter in the bush. It gets a thumbs up from me.

He would have to find some way to protect himself, some weapon. The fire worked well when it was burning, but it had burned down. His hatchet and knife would have done nothing more than make the bear really angry -- something he did not like to think about -- and his bow was good only for smaller game. He had never tried to shoot anything bigger than a fool bird or rabbit

Read aloud for my boys. We liked this one better than Hatchet.

Winter is cold

This is the story of what would have happened if things had turned out differently than they did in Hatchet. Brian not only has to survive in the wilderness, but has to do so in the brutal cold of winter. He once again uses hit wits and resourcefulness to overcome obstacle after obstacle.