Brian's Return

Infobox Book |
name = Brian's Return
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Gary Paulsen
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Brian's Saga
genre = Novel
publisher = Delacorte Press
pub_date = February 1999
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 128 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0385325002 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = The River
followed_by = Brian's Hunt

"Brian's Return" (also titled "Hatchet: The Call") is a wilderness survival novel written by Gary Paulsen. It is the third sequel of the classic book "Hatchet".

It was also released as "Hatchet: The Call" by Macmillan Children's Books in the UK on January 8, 1999.

Plot summary

Brian did not like his life in the city, and when he gets in a fight with a boy his age, he turns savage and badly injures the boy. He gets caught by the police and sent to a counselor. After talking to Brian, he realizes that there is nothing wrong with him except that he misses nature. He tells Brian that he should go back to the woods. Brian decides to go visit the Smallhorns. Brian gets his knife, pots, bow and arrows, canoe etc. (he doesn't have a hatchet in this novel) to take to the woods. He gets a ride from a pilot who is taking some fishermen up near a Smallhorns house. He gets dropped off at a river, and hops into his canoe and takes off. After stopping for a day, Brian sees a deer. He debates on shooting it but decides not to. Later, he meets a man named Billy after hunting a grouse. As Brian shares a meal with him, Brian tells Billy about the deer he saw earlier and Billy explains that the deer is his medicine (Billy's being a crow). When Billy mysteriously disappears overnight, Brian continues his journey accomplished by the medicine of Billy's that he had left deliberately for Brian. After Brian thinks about what happened to Billy, he comes up with a strange theory: Billy was what Brian would be in the future. He later decides that he does not have to immediately visit the Smallhorns, but can go when he's ready. More importantly, Brian wants to follow his medicine. Brian then decides that he no longer wants to live in the city, and floats away on his canoe.