Realistic Fiction - Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Module 7:  Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Summary: In Hatchet (Paulsen, G., 1987) the protagonist is a 13-year-old Brian Robeson that survives an airplane crash after the only other passenger, the pilot, suffers from a fatal heart attack.  Miraculously, he survives, and finds himself stranded in a Canadian forest.  He is faced with surviving until he is rescued.  If they come to rescue him.  However, faced with the need to survive, he draws on what he has read in books or seen on tv in order to find food and shelter.  He learns that to survive he must build a shelter, gather berries, make fire, make tools to catch food.  Fortunately, he is equipped with a hatchet that proves to be a useful tool. He also encounters a porcupine attack, a skunk spraying, and a moose beating.  From each experience he gains wisdom on dealing with the wilderness animals.  He ends up being out in the wilderness for 54 days alone before he is rescued.  This survival story is popular amongst young male readers and Newbery Honor book.

My Perspective: Hatchet is primarily a survival story.  However, Brian is also struggling with his parent’s divorce and his knowledge of his mother’s affair.  The roller-coaster of emotions that Brian experiences range from anger, to self-pity, to determination.  Slowly, Brian figures out what he must do.  He apparently was not a boy that had much experience camping in the woods. He had to recall survival skills from what he has either read in a book or has seen on television.  In that sense, I was not sure a boy such as he could truly survive.  Yet, because he had hope, a ‘tough hope’ (Paulsen, 1987, p. 127) he was able to focus his energy on making sure that he lived by keeping himself busy.  He didn’t measure the days, he measured events: first meat, first arrow day, first rabbit day. Making mistakes was fatal, he had to learn not to make mistakes.  Brian’s ability to survive in the wilderness alone transforms him into a new person with a deeper understanding and appreciation for life.  The pace of the book can be slow at times, but picks up towards the end just when a bush pilot finds him and rescues him.  

Library Application:
1.       Hatchet can be integrated into a science class to discuss forest animals and habitats.  Students can compare the animals that Brian confronted with their own research. 
2.       
       Another activity could be to discuss items needed in a survival kit.  Students will determine which items would be essential for survival and write a persuasive essay explaining why these items are essential.

References:

Brodie, C. S. (2006). Hatchet by gary paulsen. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 22(9), 54-55. Retrieved from ProQuest Database.

Paulsen, G. (1987) Hatchet.  New York:  Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.     

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