Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Title: Hatchet

Author: Gary Paulsen

Pub.: Aladdin Paperbacks, New York; 1996 ISBN: 0027701301

Brian’s Saga Series also includes: The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return

Genre: Fiction/Adventure

Themes: Survival, Divorce

Rating: Ages 11 and up

Awards:  1988 Newbery Honor Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Notable Book, Booklist Editor's Choice, Publisher's Weekly Best Book.
AR Points: 7.0

Plot Summary:  13-year-old Brian parents have recently divorced.  He is having a hard time accepting and understanding the adult emotions in his new life. Brian is going to spend the summer with his father in the Canadian oil fields.  When the pilot of the two-man plane suffers a heart attack, Brian must try to land the plane in an area surrounded by trees and lakes.  After surviving the plane crash, Brian’s rescue and survival is still uncertain.  Brian must endure in the wilderness using only his wits and the hatchet his mom gave him as a going away present.  Finding shelter, food and creating a new home is difficult.  Brian must compete with wild animals when looking for food.  As Brian works for survival, he discovers his inner strength and becomes a tough and thoughtful young man able to survive the harsh Canadian wilderness and the divorce of his parents.  

Review:  This 1988 Newbery Honor novel is an excellent coming of age story.  Paulsen effectively reveals the struggles teens face as they swing on the pendulum of time between childhood and adulthood.  Brian is struggling to understand and accept adult emotional behavior because of his mother’s affair and parents’ divorce.  As he struggles to survive, he experiences periods competency and emotional control and as well as feelings of hopelessness and emotional breakdown.  Although the journey to adulthood is a difficult one, Brian survives his ordeal and even brings about his own rescue.   Paulsen develops a character that is thankful, thoughtful and strong at the novel’s completion providing hope to the young people that they too are strong enough to overcome their own challenges.

If you like this story you may also like:  Far North by Will Hobbs.

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