Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Paulsen, Gary, (1987). Hatchet, New York: Simon Pulse.

Summary: This book is about a thirteen year old boy, Brian Robeson who is dealing with his parents divorce. He is torn between knowing a secret about his mother and is unsure to tell his father. At the beginning of the book he is on a plane on the way to visit his dad in Canada, when his pilot has a heart attack and Brian is left to try to fly the plane by himself. He eventually tries to carefully crash land the plane. He survives the crash and has to learn to adapt and survive in the woods of Northern Canada. The rest of the book describes the challenges he faced and how he overcame them. His surviving in the woods occurs over fifty-four days.

Rationale for Selection: This novel was considered a classic and I had not yet read it. I decided this would be a great opportunity.

Reader Response: I am so glad I read this book. I absolutely enjoyed it and could not put it down as I was reading it. I believe this is probably one of the first books ever that I read in a day and a half. I admired Brian’s ability to adapt and be creative in coming up with solutions to solve the challenges he endures in the woods. I can not help but be sympathetic towards the character and connect with him. I kept thinking could I do that? Would I panic and lose all hope of survival? The entire time I read the book I was rooting for him to succeed and would almost be very saddened when another obstacle presented itself.

Genre and Themes: Fiction, Survival

Teaching Thinking notes:
1. To introduce this book I would incorporate some visualization. I would have everyone close their eyes. I would ask the students to imagine they were all alone in the woods. I would set the scene as described in the book, “the forest was largely made up of pines and spruce, with stands of some low brush smeared here and there and thick grass and some other kind of very small brush all over (p.37).” There is a lake that had a rocky ridge that stuck out overlooking the lake about twenty feet high. (I would turn on a CD that had noises you may hear in a forest). I would tell them to think about different animals they may see. I would tell them to imagine it was a hot summer day. I would then start making buzzing sounds and tell them to imagine if they had swarms of mosquitoes that followed and bit them. I would re-emphasize the fact that they are completely alone. After the kids were done imagining the scene, I might have a few of them share their feelings. After discussing, I would tell them that this is what the character we are going to read about experiences in the story. We will have to read how he ended up in this predicament as well as what he does in his situation and whether he survives.
2. I would use this book as a read aloud and have the students’ journaling after the readings.
Reading/Journaling Schedule:
First day: Read Chapter 1. Questions: What do you think is going to happen? How would you feel in this situation?
Second day: Read Chapter 2,3. Questions: What ways does the author emphasize or create that panic that Brian is experiencing? At times it seems Brian thinks rationally, do you think you could have thought clearly? Why or why not?
Third day: Read Chapter 4,5,6. Question: [Read a part from the chapters: “Simple. Keep it simple. I am Brian Robeson. I have been in a plane crash. I am going to find some food. I am going to find some berries.”] Why do you think he keeps repeating this phrase and others like this to himself?
Fourth day: Read Chapter 7,8,9, (During reading: I would stop after reading page 77 and ask, “what may be the thing that made the noises and caused the pain to Brian? What clues made them think what they did?” Question: What kind of feelings do you think Brian is having after he created fire? Would you have been excited as well? Do you believe the fire may have symbolized something?
Fifth day: Read Chapter 10,11. Question: Can you think of any creative ways that you might search or find food?
Sixth day: Read Chapter 12, 13. [Read the last part of chapter 13 again, “Tough hope, he thought that night. I am full of tough hope.”] Question: What do you think this term “tough hope” means?
Seventh day: Read Chapter 14,15,16. Question: After living through the ordeal of your plane crashing, mosquitoes biting, getting ran over by a moose and having a tornado destroy all that you have worked for and survived on; do you think you could continue? Why do you believe Brian still seems optimistic?
Eighth day: Read Chapter 17,18. Question: What do you think will happen when Brian returns home?
Ninth day: Read Epilogue. Discussion: How where your predictions of how he would be when he returned home to what the author wrote? What did you think of the book overall? [This would be a good time for those students most interested in the character and what happens after the book, to introduce them to the other books that Gary Paulsen has written about Brian. The River, Brian’s Winter, and Brian’s Return.]
3. I would have students do a comparison/contrast using a Venn diagram. They would analyze the differences between the book Hatchet and the movie, Hatchet, A Cry in the Wild. (It was made in 1990 directed by Mark Griffiths.) Could possibly group the students and let them work together to brain storm ideas using chart paper.
4. I would take the time to introduce the author, Gary Paulsen. One website to do research with is http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/about.html. This site actually has the address to contact Gary Paulsen. As a class, the students can come up with questions they may want to write to Paulsen. Questions not only about his life but about the book they read. Another website that gives great biographical information on Gary Paulsen is http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/paulsen.htm.
5. This book is a great way to open up discussion about creating a survival kit. Being in Florida, we have hurricanes so students will be able to relate by discussing what they or their parents may collect together to prepare for a hurricane. The kids can be split into groups that have to create a survival kit that may have helped Brian in the Canadian Wilderness. (Each can have a shoe box and create the supplies using construction paper). This may be a great activity to do before reading chapter 19. Then the students can compare what they put in their survival kit as compared to the one on board the plane. [These are good websites that talk about being prepared and having supplies. http://www.fema.gov/kids/ and http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/kids/flash.shtm .]
6. After reading the book, Students can hold a class discussion on the big idea of survival.
a. Survival: What qualities are necessary to be a survivor? Are there other examples in our society that we have seen survivors?
(http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/pdf/guts.pdf)