by Timothy Dumont Jr.

Created on: August 08, 2011   Last Updated: August 09, 2011

The Hachet by Gary Paulsen is an extraordinary novel that should be read by everyone. This Newbery Honor-winning book pits a young boy against the Canadian wilderness, as well as his family problems. The book spawned several sequels, which became known as Brian's Saga after the main character's name.

Soon after Brian Robeson’s parents have a divorce; Brian boards a single engine plane to northern Canada to visit his father. While on the plane his mind is mainly on the divorce and his mother’s affair which he dubbed “The Secret”. The pilot suffers a horrible heart attack and before he can use the radio he dies. Brian is forced to attempt to land the plane in a nearby L-shaped lake, and despite his lack of experience, he survives the crash-landing.

Brian has plenty of problems to overcome in the course of the novel including starvation, shelter, weather, and fire while dealing with the fear of never going home, the pangs of loneliness, and dealing with the knowledge of “The Secret”.

The book is intelligently and beautifully written. The author makes use of foreshadowing in the earlier parts of the book to hint toward future events that reveal themselves later on. The author even takes a few chapters to contrast city life and the wilderness. He takes great care to show the reader that the media pales to personal experience and soon Brian begins to rely more on what he has learned during the course of the novel.

Gary Paulsen does an amazing job portraying nature and its relation to Brain. At first it seems like it’s a book about just one character, but then Gary breathes life into everything from Porcupines to Skunks, and even gives the weather a personality. As much as you care for the main character, you also begin to care for the nature around him as well.

The entire book is filled with facts about survival and plenty of teeth grinding moments were you honestly don’t know how things will turn out. It’s full of suspense, emotion, and some of the best usage of literary techniques.

If you haven’t read this book then you should and maybe you’ll want to read more about the further adventures of Brian Robeson.

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