Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen

Bradbury Press 1987, 191 pp., $3.95
ISBN0-14-032724-X

Hatchet is a book that starts out with learning about Brian Robeson’s troubles as a young man with his parents being divorced and while learning about this it quickly changes into something much more when he takes a trip to see his dad in the Canada oil fields.

When he takes a small plane to the oil fields he faces one catastrophe after another. Starting with the radio being blown, and having to attempt to stop short of their destination to try to fix it having to go off course and endangering them to being stranded if they were to crash. And the pilot forcing Brian to attempt to fly the plane by himself. While doing so the pilot has a heart attack and dies not long after, leaving Brian not able to get help from the pilot along with that the radio had blown earlier. After this Brian is faced with having to try and crash-land the plane into a forest of trees and lakes in Canada.
 
After crash landing into a lake, Brian remembers that they had gone off course and didn’t know if anyone would have an idea of were they were. Throughout the story Brian is faced with new challenges testing his life and forcing him to the brink of death at points in this thrilling story.
 
Brian manages to survive in the wilderness with no one, and no supplies at all except for a hatchet that he received as a parting gift to Canada from his mother. Once he crashed on the L shaped lake he sets up camp in a hedged rock by the shore that helps him more than he expected. During this book Brian encounters many animals, some friendly, though some are not very nice… Brian becomes very lonely feeling barely hearing a tap of sound other then the usual wind and the occasional chirping of the birds. Thoughts about Brian’s parents being divorced fill his head like never before, further stressing his time in the wild.
 
In this book Brian Robeson will awe you as he did to me with all of the ingenious, courageous things that he does in the story, like making a fire with just a hatchet and managing to survive against the elements and animals. Making you think he is almost heroic.
 
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers, outdoor adventures, or just any great book. This book has many very exciting points in the book were the author leaves you at the tip of your toes on top of a cliff. Feeling like it is forcing you to keep reading.

The author of this book (Gary Paulsen) really grabs in the reader with his descriptive writing making you feel like you're there in the story, him almost making nature seem as if it has emotions throughout the story.

~ reviewed by Morley