Hatchet (novel)

Infobox Book
name = Hatchet
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Gary Paulsen
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Brian's Saga
subject = Language Arts
genre = Young adult novel
publisher = Bradbury Press
release_date = 30 September, 1987
media_type = Hardcover and Paperback
pages = 195 p. (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-02-770130-1 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by =
followed_by = Brian's Winter

"Hatchet" is a 1987 Newbery Honor award-winning wilderness survival novel written by Gary Paulsen.

Plot summary

Brian Robeson is stranded alone in the Canadian wilderness after the pilot of the single-engine Cessna plane in which he is traveling suffers a fatal heart attack. Brian is forced to crash-land the plane and escapes just as it sinks in a remote lake.

Brian figures out how to make fire. He forces himself to eat whatever food he can find, such as turtle eggs, fish, berries, and even a couple of 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, who Brian has discovered was having an affair with another man.

When a tornado hits the woods and lake, it draws the plane wreckage toward the shore 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 a transmitter, packs of food, and a AR-7 (.22 survival rifle). Brian unknowingly activates the transmitter, but he thinks it is broken. As he is digging into the food packs, a fur trader arrives in a water plane. 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.

In an alternate ending sequel, Brian's Winter, the novel supposedly ends with having Brian not yet rescued, and with winter looming ahead. He was in the woods for 54 days.

equels

Paulsen followed "Hatchet" with four additional novels about Brian. Paulsen revisited "Hatchet" in "Brian's Winter". Paulsen answers (by popular demand, he says) the question of what would have happened if Brian had been forced to spend a winter in the Canadian wilderness. This is an alternate version of the story of "Hatchet", in which the survival pack radio didn't work, so he couldn't call for help.

In the second, "The River", a government agent asks Brian to return to the Canadian wilderness-about 100 miles from his original camp-and show him how he managed to survive. The agent gets struck by lightning and falls into a coma, leaving Brian to construct a raft to transport him to a trading post.

The third additional novel, titled "Brian's Return", tells the story of Brian returning to the Canadian wilderness in a canoe, aptly named the "Raft", a gift given to him at the end of the book, "The River".

A fourth additional novel was written in 2004. In "Brian's Hunt", Brian finds an injured dog while in his canoe. He thinks that the dog belongs to trappers, so he goes to his Native friends to ask if anyone lost a dog. When he arrives at their house, he finds the mauled bodies of his friends. He finds out a bear killed them and noticed that one of their daughters is missing. He later finds her in a canoe out on the lake and goes to hunt the bear.

Film adaptations

"Hatchet" was made into a TV movie in 1990 entitled "A Cry in the Wild."