Brian receives a hatchet from his mom the morning he is to leave to visit his dad. His mom thought he might be able to use it on the trip. While on the small airplane, being the only passenger, the pilot gives him a basic flying lesson. Soon after, the pilot seems to be feeling sick and becomes unconscious. Brian takes over flying and is forced to crash land. The book continues as he learns to survive in the wilderness and continues to hope for rescue as winter approaches.
Brian’s Winter continues the series with the question, “What if Brian had to spend the winter alone in the wilderness?”
In The River, Brian receives a contract to demonstrate how he survived in the wilderness. This will kick-start a program to train astronauts and military personnel to survive in the wilderness. An unforeseen problem causes mayhem and leaves the group to the knowledge that Brian gained on his original stay.
Brian’s Return is the official sequel to the Hatchet. Brian struggles with living in society again after being on his own in the wilderness. He returns to the woods to find where he belongs.
I haven’t read Brian’s Return yet but I have read the others. These books are suspenseful and take the reader on a journey of survival. It is easy to put oneself in Brian’s place and wonder what one would do. I would recommend them to third or fourth graders and older students. I remember my fourth grade teacher start reading Hatchet to our class after lunch on our first day of school.
I loved Hatchet as a child - read it over and over. It was and is hard to imagine making it through a situation like the one Brian was in.
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