Hatchet (novel)
.jpg) Hard Cover | |
| Author | Gary Paulsen |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Brian's Saga |
| Subject | Language Arts |
| Genre | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Bradbury Press |
Publication date | 30 September 1987 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Hardcover and Paperback |
| Pages | 195 p. (first edition, hardback) 186 p. (second edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-02-770130-1 (first edition, hardback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| OCLC | 15366056 |
| [Fic] 19 | |
| LC Class | PZ7.P2843 Ju 1987 |
| Followed by | The River |
Hatchet is a 1987 Newbery Honor-winning wilderness survival novel written by Gary Paulsen. It is the first novel in the Hatchet series and is followed by four sequels.
Plot summary
Brian Robeson is stranded alone in the Canadian wilderness after the pilot of the single-engine Cessna 406 bushplane in which he is traveling suffers a heart attack. Brian is forced to try to land the plane, but ends up crash-landing the plane into a lake. He just manages to escape as the plane sinks into the L-shaped lake.
Brian figures out how to make fire. He forces himself to eat whatever food he can find, such as turtle eggs, fish, berries, fruit, some rabbits, and birds. He deals with a porcupine, bear, skunk, moose, and a tornado. He eventually becomes quite a craftsman, crafting a bow, arrows, and a spear. He also fashions a shelter out of the underside of a rock overhang. During the story, he struggles with memories of home, and the bittersweet memory of his mother, whom Brian has discovered was cheating on his father.
When a tornado hits the woods and lake, it draws the plane wreckage toward the top of the lake. Brian makes a raft from a few broken off tree tops to get to the plane. When Brian is working his way into the plane, he drops his hatchet in the water. He realizes how critical the hatchet is for his survival. After diving twice, he retrieves the hatchet and narrowly avoids drowning. Inside the plane, he finds a survival pack, which has an emergency transmitter, many packs of food, a first aid kit, a pot, and .22 survival rifle (likely an AR-7 ). Brian activates the transmitter, but not knowing how to work it, he thinks it is broken. As he is eating the food packs, a fur buyer arrives in a float plane some time after because he caught the transmitter's signal. Finally, after reaching his father, he is no closer to being able to tell him about the mother's affair than at the novel's beginning.
Film adaptations
Hatchet was made into a movie called a cry in the wild
References
External links
- For the sequels, Brian's Saga in Gary Paulsen's website.