Bibliography
Paulsen, G. Hatchet. New York, N.Y: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1987. 1-195. Print.
Nilsen, A P., J. Blasingame, K. L. Donelson, and D. L. Nilsen. Literature for today's young adults. 9th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Summary
Brian Robeson, 13, is leaving his mother in New York to visit his father in the rural Canadian North Woods. His single-engine bush plane goes down somewhere in the vast woods next to a lake. Brian is left all alone with only a hatchet and his wits. On top of his need for survival, Brian is struggling with his parents’ recent divorce and his mother’s “secret.” Will he survive physically and mentally?
Analysis
Hatchet is a coming of age adventure story as the protagonist, Brian, learns to survive and adjust from a passive “Big City” boy to a mature, self-sufficient, young adult alone in the wild.
Strengths:
This book is engaging because Brian is very reflective on his situation as a teen all alone. His thoughts and actions are very believable. It is impossible not to put yourself in his shoes and think, “What would I have done in this situation?” Brian often compares the drama of television wilderness shows to the reality of actually surviving in the Canadian wilderness. This adds another layer of familiarity as modern readers might also use television references as a guide in this situation.
Paulsen’s writing is also engaging to a YA audience because he layers relevant topics such as confidence, self-motivation, and generalizations about the surrounding world into Brian’s fight for survival. Part of Brian’s coming of age comes from adapting, changing, slowing down and observing his world. He uses a quote from his English teacher as a mantra ‘You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have’ (Robeson, p. 51). Additionally, Brian makes a point of recognizing his mistakes and chastising himself for them, but also growing from them and recognizing his accomplishments. As is common with this genre, the protagonist is permanently changed by his experience that helps shape his adult identity (Nilsen, et al., p. 4).
Paulsen clearly writes about Brian’s surroundings in the wilderness. He juxtaposes the grey color of the city with the green of the wilderness. He does the same with the city’s constant noise and the relative quiet of the forest and water. Often the reader is pulled into the description of the forest and can almost smell the sap of the trees and feel the wind coming off the lake.
Weaknesses:
Some readers will be attracted to this book because it deals with divorce and is even listed with the sub-genre of divorce topics. However, while divorce is the driving force to have him take the trip which leads to his time in the wilderness, the theme of divorce does nothing else to further the story or give depth to the character. It almost feels added on. Also, the epilogue focuses primarily on the way his Canadian wilderness experience affected him, and there is very little follow up about the effects of the divorce on his life.
The book starts off with a very linear flow, but the second half of the book does not give any markers of time. Paulsen makes a point of saying that the protagonist is keeping track of the days so it is unclear why Paulsen changes the flow of the book.
Please note, the front flap of this edition of the book, in essence, reveals the ending of the book. While this increases tension, it also somewhat ruins the joy of reading the book and independently discovering how it ends. The summary could still be effectively written without listing the number of days Brian is in the Canadian wilderness.
Overall, I would recommend this book to a male or female YA reader because of the universal themes and gripping writing.
