Hatchet

What are you made of, really? Who hasn’t conjured up a survival scenario in which you are the protagonist? How would you fare?

I loved this book because the author put you on that plane in that horribly inconceivable situation in which you simply know you will likely die. But you don’t—not immediately, anyway. But then the real struggle begins. This book resonates with me because every difficult, life-changing scenario is utterly plausible, unnerving, and interesting. 

In a way, my picking this book for this list is like me saying the Kansas City Chiefs are winners, it’s already a known fact.

The book’s main character, Brian Robeson, is a Crusoe after my own literary heart. When his plane crashes, I understand that the wreck he faces is no less than the one he left behind with his parent’s divorce. He must survive both and the guilt he feels, I feel, as he comes to terms with the dual tragedies. I felt every success Brian had hunting to survive and the emptiness of every failure.

For a… show more.

This is one of the first young adult books I remember reading as an adult. I read it in college when I was preparing to become a teacher, and then I read it to my students once I was in the classroom.

I love the survival aspect of the story and Brian’s perseverance to push through after his plane crashes in the wilderness of snowy northern Canada. I also love that this book features a younger teen, which we don’t often see in YA books.

The story kept me fully engaged and I was rooting for Brian the whole time.

I first read Hatchet when my son brought it home from his school library.

From the first page, as thirteen-year-old Brian flies into the “endless green northern wilderness” in a small airplane, I knew this was a book I wouldn’t be able to put down. My son and I stayed up way past his bedtime reading this classic adventure story together. After the plane crashes, Brian must survive alone in the wilderness with only a hatchet for help.

His story made us think more carefully about what we bring along when we go hiking in the wild. I’ve now read… show more.

My 10-year-old loved the descriptions of what Brian had to do to survive. We tried the film but gave up. He liked the book better, and I agree with him. The book is more exciting and informative.

This is a super-gripping novel that starts out with a young man named Brian on a small plane above the Canadian wilderness on the way to visit his father when the pilot has a heart attack. Brian has to crash land the plane in the wilderness and then survive on his own with only a hatchet to help him. I love survival stories and really enjoy reading about what people decide to do and what they think about to keep themselves alive until they are rescued. 

I know it’s not recent, but kids continue to read and love it. Hatchet is a survival story. But it’s also about so much more—accepting things we can’t change, not giving up when things get hard, pushing ourselves to do what needs to be done, and forgiving our loved ones even when they disappoint us. In other words: Life.

I don’t know if I’d be writing books that tackle life and death issues today if not for reading Hatchet years ago. I always knew I wanted to write for kids, but I wasn’t sure what limits the teacher and parent… show more.

I was recommended this by a friend when I was a teacher. It’s the perfect survival teaching book. Brian is the original Bear Grylls – abandoned alone in the Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet for company. With only one main character, it’s intense and dramatic – another book that influenced The Island. Rare for a children’s book, you’re left uncertain as to whether the main character will survive, whether it will be a happy ending…