Hatchet was a book we read in English class this year and is a Newbery Award winner. It is the story of thirteen year old Brian Robeson, who was flying from Hampton, New York, to visit his father, on a very small two men plane. The pilot on the plane however suffers a heart attack and dies. Brian tries to direct the plane towards a lake, and survives. However, he finds himself completely alone in the very hostile Canadian wilderness, with only one useful tool, a little hatchet, given to him by his mother before entering the plane… This city boy will have to adapt to the unfavourable and unfamiliar conditions in the wilderness: difficult access to food, dangerous animals… In this book, we also discover Brian’s feelings towards his parent’s divorce, and learn, through brief flashbacks, a secret, ”The Secret” as Brian calls it, that Brian knows led to his parents divorce… I really enjoyed reading this book, as the author has himself lived in the Canadian wilderness, so thoroughly explains every survival detail, making the book very detailed and realistic.
Rating: 
(4.5 / 5)
Release Date: 1987
Author: Gary Paulsen
Publishing House: Simon and Schuster