Hatchet, Gary Paulsen: Teacher guide

by Doris Roettger

53 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Sam LeFebre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hachet, by Gary Paulsen, is a thriller all about surviving by yourself and conquering your inner demons. This book starts and ends with Brain. Brain, traveling to Canada to visit his dad, finds himself stranded in the great canadian wilderness with little supplies save for a hachet on his belt. It is here that Brian learns to take care of himself, and face the trth about his parents divorce.

The book is not only about survival, but also discusses some tough topics that many kids in society face. The main idea explored is what to do when your parents get divorced. The book tackles this topic by emphasizing its not within your control, and you, of all people, are not to be blamed. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an action packed survival story with great character development. Overall this is a fantastic book with ups and downs that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

[Terry wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in elements school and still love it to this day.

[Praneel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Survival of the fittest

I have reviewed a couple of survival stories by various authors, all of which never have failed to captivate me. The first time I read Hatchet was during middle school and it was my favorite book at the time. I was so intrigued each day and eager to listen to our teacher read out loud in class and I begged her to keep on reading more each day. The suspense the book brings is incredible. Reading it again in high school, I had some nice flashbacks but it wasn’t the thrill and excitement I had back in middle school. BRIEF SUMMARY: The book starts with the main character Brian Robinson traveling in a small plane by himself in the Canadian wilderness. His mind is wandering off and can’t listen or see anything because of his parent's divorce. It’s the only thing he can think about. The pilot allows Brain to try and fly the plane teaching him some tips. These tips probably saved Brian’s life as the pilot suddenly suffers a heart attack and dies. The whole event took just seconds and now Brian is, “alone” pg 12. This word immediately sets the tone and mood for almost the rest of the story. Fortunately, Brian survives the crash landing but is now stranded in the forest with no means of communication. Over the 54 days he is stranded Brian faces extreme challenges, such as facing wolves, bears, starvation, and the most dreadful of them all, being alone.
SPOILER ALERT. One of the most suspenseful moments in the book is when Brian gets attacked by a supposed monster in the middle of the night. The vivid words describing the animal make it seem that Brian is sure to perish. To everyone’s surprise, Brian discovers that the monster was just a porcupine that slipped into his makeshift tent.
Reading the book again now I was able to detect a lot of unnecessary parts that didn’t have any connection to the plot or ending. Without the dragging-on of events, this book would have a higher rating in my opinion. I would recommend this for middle schoolers who are eager to read solo survival stories and they can be educational and inspiring in other cases.

[Jamie Matheis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen is an intense and exciting young adult novel. The text explores the strength of human beings as Brian, a young boy, travels to Canada to visit his father after his parents divorce. Strapped with only the clothes on his back, Brian's plane takes a dive into the Canadian wilderness. He is alone and must survive on his own. This text is fantastic for a classroom read aloud as it provides appropriate pause for discussion on human strength, perseverance, discussion, and appreciation. However, this text can be a struggle for some students to read independently as it can run on with details and difficult vocabulary. I would recommend this text as a classroom read aloud or group novel study only.

[Ji You · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, the main character, Brian, who is in pain because his parents divorced, was traveling on a light plane to meet his father in northern Canada for the summer vacation. It is the story of surviving alone on a deserted island. The process of a boy who is only 13 years old at the most, making a fire, making a nest, and even making a mini-raft, looking for food and surviving with a single hatchet given to him by his mother, is very pathetic. Then, finally, he found the survival pack mounted on the plane, and the moment he tried to have a supper with emergency food there, he met a futile reversal ending.... It was a happy but ridiculous ending. Because I was really looking forward to a more interesting ending. I really enjoyed this book, and I want to read it again in the future.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on true events. One of the first books my daughter was excited for required reading in school. She asked me to read it too.

[Tommy]

this is a super interesting book it was hard to stop reading it

[Jerome]

this is a good book that´s all i have to say

[William H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how there is action to this book and it is outdoors all though the book. It has a lot of facts and details. I would strongly recommend this book to an body. There is apart in the boo that I really enjoy and its when he's building his shelter and it was done and a tornado and destroyed it all but he never gave and he built it again and built even better than the first time he built it. The story really made me think I was there. The only part that I thought was bad is when something bad happened it messed up everything and he had to start over all the work that he already did. Anybody who likes books that are outdoors you'll like this book and any of the Tom Sawer would also like this book.

[Samuel lozano Lozano · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book hatchet so far is a preatty good book its about this guy named Brian Robeson, he gets on Cessna 406 its a plane. Brian was on his way to visit his dad, but his plane crashed in a canadian wilderness. So Brian had to deal with the wilderness with only a tattered windbreaker and hatchet "himself" also all the fear he had for what had happened. Brian had a secret nobody knew, brian had inner demonds that would possesd him and sometimes he dirent have control over it. Brian knew he had to have more courage than he already possesd to overcome those demons he had deep inside.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hatchet is a good book for all those people who wonder how you would do in the wild. It starts off pretty strait forward, but then after awhile, it starts to lose it's touch. It become the same thing over and over again. He first fills himself with berries, then fish, until a tornado come along. It seams like there could be no end to it. I would've gotten bored if it did go on forever. Some books could go on forever, and I'd stay hooked. Still a good read.

[Frank Licavoli · Rating 2 out of 5]

it showed how he was not scared