Hatchet

Paulsen, G. (2006). Hatchet. Simon and Shuster Books for Young Readers. (Original work published 1987). 192 pages. ISBN 9781416936473

Primary genre: adventure

Other elements: family, coming of age, survival

Intended reader age: 12 and up

Synopsis:

With the divorce of Brian Robison’s parents it is agreed that Brian will spend the summer months with his father and the rest of the year with his mother. On the first trip he makes to visit his father, the single-engine plane he is being transported in crashes in the Canadian Wilderness. His hope that help will come soon is diluted by the knowledge that before crashing the plane flew hundreds of miles off course leaving rescuers with no clue of where it is now. Brain must now learn to survive with nothing more than the hatchet his mother gave him just before he departed.

Review:

I found Brian’s struggle to be very believable and very well done. Paulsen wrote this story in such a way that even though it is already over 20 years old it still reads like a modern, relatable story.

There are two struggles that Brian must face through the story: the struggle to survive in the wilderness and the struggle to come to terms with his parent’s divorce. This is another aspect of the story that makes it quite timeless because this is an issue that many children face on a daily basis and although they may not be as aware as Brian is, they can still relate to that part of his struggle. For Brian this divorce becomes so much more because without the divorce, and the Secret, Brian would not be in this position. He makes this connection very early in the story as well, he even thinks about it while he is first flying.

I like how Paulsen paced out this book with the first three-fourths of the book focusing on those initial days following the plane-crash. These days are the biggest challenge for Brian because he is not prepared for this and he fights to etch out even the simplest living. As he learns and grows, so do readers. Many readers are probably right where Brian was at the beginning; their only interactions with nature on that scale have occurred while viewing it through books and television screens. Once Brian learns though and makes that decision to give this everything he has the book picks up pace. We view snippets of Brian’s new life because so much of it is the same on a day-to-day basis.

Paulsen wrote four other books continuing the story of Brian: The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, and Brian’s Hunt. The River is the sequel to Hatchet while the other three follow a secondary storyline, in which Brian was not rescued before winter (as he was in the first book) but had to survive the winter and was rescued later. That secondary storyline goes with the premise that Brian became more accustomed to wilderness lifestyle and was unable to re-adapt to his former life.