At first consumed by despair and self-pity, Brian slowly learns survival skills—how to make a shelter for himself, how to hunt and fish and forage for food, how to make a fire—and even finds the courage to start over from scratch when a tornado ravages his campsite. When Brian is finally rescued after fifty-four days in the wild, he emerges from his ordeal with new patience and maturity, and a greater understanding of himself and his parents.
How did I like the book?
First, I stumbled upon this book as the summer vacations assignment for my 6th grade son. Obviously, the book sat on my bed side and landed in my hands! Also, somehow my son just love reading together. He is always inviting me to read along where one of reads aloud and other one listens actively. I am often short of time for this and many times I ask him to read while I do my stuff with the promise that I will read in my own time and catch up with him for next read along.
Coming to the book, I enjoyed reading this young adult fiction. I finished the 180 pages in 2 small sittings at bedtime. The story is about the traumatic yet somewhat inspiring journey of a 13 year old buy who is stranded in the wild as a result of tragic plane crash. The little boy then applies his lifetime of learning from school, TV shows, friends and everything to survive. Just before the plane takeoff, his mother gave him a hatchet which eventually turned out to be his ultimate survivor. The way he lights his first fire to his first food brought a small smile over my face. The poor kid was stranded for 54 days!
What I liked:
1. Super quick and easy read: The language is very easy for the target audience to comprehend and it's not too many pages to get bored of as well.
2. Entertaining: Right from the beginning to the last page, I found it difficult to put it down.
3. Age appropriate: The book is written for the children aged 10 to 13 years old and it does full justice to them. My 11 year old son is thoroughly enjoying it.
4. Motivational: There are many moments where Brian felt absolutely helpless and did not know what or how to do. But the point that he did not give up emerged as very encouraging and I am sure the kids reading will gather some motivation from the same.
What I did not like:
1. Repetitive: A few phrases keep on repeating throughout the book which annoyed me as an adult. But then, the target audience is different and 1o to 13 years old's might actually need those repetitions for their shorter timespan.
The author Gary Paulsen has managed to keep the reader hooked with a very basic and predictive survival story. As i mentioned earlier, I smiled on each of Brian's success and similarly, on
every failure and misfortune, I had a sympathetic expression. There is also a small room for the readers to be motivated from the little boy's adventure and adapt a never give up attitude - the luck can actually leave one with no choice other than keep on trying but then one must be able to live up to that. All in all, I really liked my time spent on the pages of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
Would I re-read it? Possibly no but that does not mean I did not like it.
Would I recommend it to my friends? Yes! This will be in my recommended list for all young adults and anyone who likes children books and wants a light quick read.
Found the review interesting? Grab a copy for yourself from amazon:
