FIC Paulsen • AR Reading Level: 5.7 • AR Points: 7.0 • Quiz #367
When thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson’s parents divorce, the judge grants his parents shared custody. Now Brian is on a single engine airplane headed north to Canada to spend his summer with his father. It is his first time on an airplane and he gets to sit in the co-pilot’s seat. When the pilot has a heart attack, Brian is alone in a plane flying above the Canadian wilderness. With the plane running out of fuel, Brian must find a way to land the plane and live in the wilderness completely alone with nothing but the hatchet his mother had given him before he left.
Hatchet is an amazing story of a young man’s struggle to survive against incredible odds. In Hatchet, Gary Paulsen has created a simple story, but it has a long lasting impact on readers. Throughout the course of this book, readers will journey with Brian Robeson as he grows and transforms from an average city boy into an independent young man who learns to survive by himself through hard work, adaptability, and a bit of luck. This is an exciting book that young readers have read and enjoyed for twenty-five years. This is a must read, a classic of children’s literature. Interest Level: grades 4-8
1988 Newbery Honor Book
Paulsen, G. (1987). Hatchet. New York, NY : Scholastic Inc.
Read the sequel to this book. He takes a journalist with him and they crash. Great follow up.