The Hatchet Series by Gary Paulsen was not even on my radar until it was discussed a lot in The Losers Club by Andrew Clements.
Thirteen-year-old Brian is in the throws of dealing with his parent’s divorce when he flies on a two-seater plane to visit his father in the Canadian oil fields. The pilot dies from a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crash lands in a lake in the middle of nowhere. Brian has to survive in the wilderness with only the hatchet that his mother gave him before he left,
This book is about Brian’s survival in the wilderness where he learns to start a fire, find food, and hunt but it is also about him coming to terms with his parent’s divorce and the loneliness he feels.
The series consists of five books; Hatchet, The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, and Brian’s Hunt. I’m going to have to spoil the ending of the first book to explain a little about the series. In the end of Hatchet, Brian is rescued. There is a severe storm which results in the plane becoming partially unsubmerged. Brian gets into the plane and finds the survival pack which has a transistor radio. Pauslen then wrote The River where Brain returns to the wilderness with a psychologist to help the government study how people act in survival situations. The psychologist gets struck by lightning and falls into a coma. Brian has to navigate down the river with the unresponsive pilot to find help. After Pauslen wrote these first two books he received many letters saying that the first book wrapped up too quickly before winter came and the struggle to survive really started. So he wrote Brian’s Winter and started the book by telling the reader to pretend that there was no radio in the survival pack at the end of the first book. When you read this series I suggest you read Brian’s Winter second- even though it wasn’t written until later.
Now, a caveat. While I listened to this book with my third grader, it should be noted that the “interest level” for this book is middle school. It discusses Brian’s parents divorce and “the secret” that Brian’s mom was having an affair (Brian sees his mom kissing a man). Brian also contemplates and unsuccessfully attempts suicide, and there is a graphic description of the dead pilot after he has been submerged in the water for a couple months. Brian’s Winter has a particularly vivid description of a wolf pack attacking a moose. My son was fine with these topics but my daughter would not have been when she was in third grade. I always preview what my kids want to read and make sure we discuss anything that they want to discuss or I think they need to discuss.
But my son and I absolutely loved this book! And while we listened to the audio versions, we were at the Gasparilla Parade in Tampa and the library was giving out free books and one of them happened to be Brain’s Winter!
No Comments