Celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Newbery Honor-winning survival novel Hatchet with a pocket-sized edition perfect for travelers to take along on their own adventures. This special anniversary edition includes a new introduction and commentary by author Gary Paulsen, pen-and-ink illustrations by Drew Willis, and a water resistant cover. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of America’s … as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his mother’s infidelity, is traveling by single-engine plane to visit his father for the first time since the divorce. When the plane crashes, killing the pilot, the sole survivor is Brian. He is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present.
At first consumed by despair and self-pity, Brian slowly learns survival skills–how to make a shelter for himself, how to hunt and fish and forage for food, how to make a fire–and even finds the courage to start over from scratch when a tornado ravages his campsite. When Brian is finally rescued after fifty-four days in the wild, he emerges from his ordeal with new patience and maturity, and a greater understanding of himself and his parents.
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Gary Paulsen was a staple of my middle school career. His stories are riveting, memorable, and frankly pretty inspirational. Hatchet is the pinnacle of his works, in my opinion, and I purchased a physical copy recently (I hadn’t read this one since I borrowed it from Chester Middle School’s library) so I could enjoy it again.
Protagonist Brian is on his way to visit his dad in remote Canada, struggling with his parents’ imminent divorce, when the pilot of the small plane he’s in suffers a heart attack, leaving Brian to land the plane safely and then try not to die in the Canadian wilderness.
Paulsen excels at painting Brian’s story realistically, and while I’ve never been forced to fend for myself with only the clothes on my back as a resource, I imagine I’d approach the problem much in the same way Brian does — using knowledge from books and TV and snippets remembered from my dad’s hunting stories.
This was a favorite for me as a middle schooler, and I’m happy to say it really holds up and is still great fun to read as an adult.
Hatchet is a great book It is about A kid serving in the wild after the pilot dies unexpectedly
Very good I have read this book many times and Recomend it
I read this book and it became my favorite book
a very good book
This is by far the greatest book ever, I would recommend this book to anyone who was looking for a suspenseful book. 19 chapters AND an epilogue!
I would recommend this book to anyone who either likes the TV series servivor or likes that genre of books. I would also recommend the Stranded Series and the Stranded: Shadow Island series both by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts. The Stranded series comes first then the Stranded: Shadow Island series comes next.
I loved this book so much! I was reading it on the edge of my seat.
It brings back adolescent memories and kept me entertained..
This is a story of a 13 year old boy who is in a plane on his way to visit his dad. His parents are recently divorced, and he is going to be spending the summer with his father in the oil fields of Canada. He is on a small plane where it is just him and the pilot. During the flight, the pilot has a heart attack and dies and the boy is left to figure out how to land the plane. The plane runs out of gas, and crashes near a lake somewhere in the woods of Canada. He has no idea where he is, and the only thing he has is his Hatchet his mother gave him as a going away present. The plane has sunk in a lake and he is all alone.
He uses what skills he can to survive for 2 months in the woods alone. He finds food, figures out how to make a spear, a bow and to hunt. HE fights off wild animals as well as hoards of mosquitos.
When he is finally rescued, he is a changed person. He was so angry about his parent’s divorce, and he had self pity for himself and realized that in survival there is no time for such things. It took all of his courage just to survive until he was rescued.
This was a pretty good book. It is a Newberry award winner, and I can see why. It is a quick read and definitely written for younger readers. It was written pretty well, and at less than 200 pages, I was able to finish it in less than 2 days.
I would say check it out, so have your kids read it. It had a good message.
I love young adult literature and this is one of the books I assigned my middle grade students to read. The premise is haunting; losing a child in a plane wreck in the middle of the wilderness. It is a coming of age story as well as a survival story. The value of a single item that can change a life….
awesome
The foolbirds
this is one of my favorite books I’ve ever read and I’ve read it at least 3 times.
Despite its title (which I found off-putting), this book delivered in more ways than I can say. If you want to experience what its would be like to be stranded alone with only a hatchet in the wilderness of Canada, then read this book about Brian, an adolescent boy who survives a plane crash. I found the book invigorating, illuminating, and thrilling!
Awesome
how the author writes the book is super confusing he jumps around tons
It gave a real life experience of what it would be like to survive in the wilderness. some may say he was crazy but i say he was pretty smart to stay alive as long as he did so hands down this is and always will be my favorite book.
This has been one of the staples for reading to my young family members. They are glued to it and sit wide-eyed as I read this wonderful adventure book to them. A must-have for any family library.
Hatchet is a fantastic book for adventurous boys and girls, and will be entertaining to adults who wish to relive the daydreams of childhood through a great coming of age story.
I’ve read Hatchet as both a boy and an adult, and the story resonates as thoroughly with my sense of adventure now as it did then.
I can’t wait until my girls are old enough to enjoy it, too.