Essay On Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

In my middle school, students were required to read about 20 minutes of a book of their choice every day. I had never really been a fan of casual reading so I went to the school library and picked out the book with cover appealed the most. Little did I know at the time that this book would mirror and help me through my childhood.

The book is named “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen and is a 1987 Newbery Honor-winning young-adult wilderness survival novel. The storyline starts off with Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year old with divorced parents, flying on a plane from New York to Northern Canada to visit his father. During the plane ride, the pilot suffers a heart attack and dies, leaving Brian to fly the plane. He tries his best to land the plane, but ends up landing in a lake nearby a deserted island. Sooner than later, Brian realizes he only has a hatchet, a gift from his mother before the plane ride, to survive with.

Throughout the summer, Brian has to learn new ways to adapt to his environment in order to survive on an isolated island only with a hatchet. He deals with new threats of nature such as dangerous weather conditions, porcupines, bears, and wolves. Also, He learns create a fire with the hatchet and adapts to the different foods such as turtle eggs, berries, birds,

I only had to read 20 minutes a day, but I couldn’t wait another day to find out what happened when Brian encountered a brown bear. Also, I had a similar type of experience as Brian, when I immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. Similarly to Brian, I had to learn new ways to adapt to the new environment. Adjusting to the food, language, and culture in America was a challenge that I had to overcome. Like how Brian found new ways to overcome the challenges he faced, I made friends with similar cultural background as me to overcome my