You've Gotta Read This!
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is a Newberry-award-winning
young adult novel about a 13 year old named
Brian who survives alone in
the Northern Canadian wilderness.
When the book starts, Brian is upset
because his parents are getting divorced.
He's getting a ride in a small bush plane,
like this one, to the Canadian oil fields
where his father is working.
It's just him and the pilot.
So when the pilot dies of a heart attack partway
through the flight, Brian is forced to fly
the small plane as best he can.
He can keep it in the air, but doesn't know
where he's going and he's going to run out
of fuel eventually.
Brian manages to crash-land the plane in a
small lake far from any populated area.
He survives the crash and swims to shore.
When he's able to think clearly, he takes
stock of his situation.
(reading the passage aloud)
Now Brian must find a way to survive on his
own in the forest.
He'll need food and shelter and has no idea
how to begin.
But at least he has a hatchet that he received
from his mom as a present before he
left for the trip.
Hatchet is one of the most popular young adult
novels ever written because Brian is what
we all hope we will be in a crisis.
He's calm and rational.
He uses what resources he has, makes
realistic assessments of new situations,
makes smart choices;
he makes mistakes, too, but
he learns from them.
In a way, though this disaster,
Brian becomes an adult,
no longer dependent on his unreliable parents,
because it is through struggle that
we grow, not through comfort and ease.
Entertainment doesn't expand our minds; using
our imaginations to solve real problems does.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
