FernFolio

Flying northwest in a single engine plane to spend the summer in the oil fields of northern Canada with his engineer father, thirteen year-old Brian Robeson is angry over his parents’ recent divorce yet eager to see his father again, after several months’ absence. The pilot seems friendly, and shows Brian how to hold the plane on course as they wing northward, but is preoccupied by a bad case of heartburn, one that proves, in fact, to be a heart attack. When the pilot suddenly dies at the controls, Brian is left alone to fly the plane and to think about what will happen when it runs out of fuel.
After the plane crash lands on a northern lake and sinks, Brian drags himself to shore and finds himself lost and alone in the wilderness. He overcomes pain and injury to find food and shelter, and make fire to ward off mosquitos and other, larger animals, hopeful that a search plane will rapidly find him and get him home safely where he belongs. Instead, the plane, when it comes, does not spot the boy and Brian must face the terrible truth that he will not be found.
So begins the story of how a young boy overcomes great challenges to survive in the wilderness, teaching himself to fish and hunt and store and cook food, and to watch and listen to and feel all that surrounds him so that he can protect himself from predators such as bears and wolves, and, far more challenging, to find within himself the mental strength of character to endure and thrive alone.
Published over twenty years ago, Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, is a classic survival story; the author’s spare writing style has an almost mesmerising quality, and his descriptions of Brian’s hard-won victories, both large and small, stir the reader’s heart and imagination. A must-read novel!
FernFolio Editor