Read this when
Hatchet
Brian's plane crashed, his parents split and nobody was coming. 🪓 He found 'tough hope' one fire at a time.
Who it's for
Hatchet shows a boy alone in the wilderness after a plane crash, learning through trial and error to make fire, find food and keep going.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Gary Paulsen's 1987 Newbery Honor novel follows 13-year-old Brian Robeson, who is flying in a bush plane to visit his father in northern Canada. The pilot dies of a heart attack, and Brian crash-lands in a remote lake. Alone in the wilderness with only a hatchet his mother gave him, he learns to make tools and shelter and to find food, while carrying a painful secret about his parents' divorce.
Where to find it
In print (Simon & Schuster) and in almost every school and public library, including Libby/Hoopla. An audiobook exists. Widely taught from about age 10 in schools.
Before you start
Heads up: A suicide attempt and a pilot's death.
Age: Ages 12+
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the thing with feathers” (poem 314)
