Hatchet Review Part 2

As the second half of the book began, I definitely wondered how long it would go on for until Brian was either discovered or finally decided to start hiking south. I honestly didn't expect him to stick around the camp for the entire time! I thought the book might get boring but honestly it was full of thrilling and terrifying experiences! There was only one teeny chapter where I got a tiny bit bored. 

There were quite a few places in the book where I kept questioning what I was reading...would that really happen? While picking berries, Brian stumbles upon a mama bear and her cubs. The mama bear defends her cubs but does not attack Brian. Maybe the bears simply haven't interacted with humans, but from what I've heard and know not many mama bears would simply let a human go unharmed after coming that close to their babies. Unless its an inspirational movie. Or a book. And it's not that I was annoyed by this part in the book in any way...I definitely think it added to the magic and story of the book...I was just being a little bit too realistic. And forgetting about luck and magic. 

I literally have not been more terrified while reading a book then when I was reading about the moose attacking Brian. I've been within touching distance of moose and have heard crazy stories from my dad who used to live in Alaska so I know how dangerous they can be. I cringed and covered half of my face while reading this part of the book...I was that terrified of the outcome. "As soon as he moved, the hair on her back went up and she charged him again, using her head and front hooves this time, slamming him back and down into the water, on his back this time, and he screamed the air out of his lungs and hammered on her head with his fists and filled his throat with water and she left again." Moose. Drowning. Gary Paulsen writes such terrifyingly realistic passages. Moose can be incredibly cute and sweet but one wrong turn and it's all over.

And then the tornado. Brian can literally not catch a break! Moose, skunks, porcupines, tornadoes, it goes on and on. And a tornado in Canada? I had to google that and sure enough Canadian tornadoes are a thing! When the wind woke him up he described it as a "low roaring sound that came from wind...a far-off roar but coming at him". At first I thought it was only a windstorm because I couldn't imagine a tornado in the northern forests of Canada, but I was wrong. "He was whipped against the front wall of the shelter like a rag, felt a ripping pain in his ribs again, then was hammered back down into the sand once more..." This book is so vivid and artistic but it's also heartbreaking and gut-wrenching. Maybe I read this on a rough day but this part of the book nearly had me in tears...I was so tired of seeing Brian struggle and feel hopeless. All I could see was my 13 year old brother in that sort of situation and imagining what he would be going through. 

"A flip of some giant coin and he was the loser."

Brian became discouraged throughout the book and rightfully so! However, he always managed to pick himself up and get back to surviving. Of course I think this is an amazing lesson for young readers and the lesson is relayed in such a terrifyingly and attention-grabbing way. Don't worry Brian was rescued in the end! The tornado brought the plane up from the bottom of the lake and Brian was able to retrieve an emergency transmitter, gun, food, and everything that would have been so useful this entire time. A pilot hears his emergency transmitter and finds Brian diving into the glorious food. What if Brian had never been able to find the emergency transmitter? Would he have stayed at the camp and possibly died or would he have finally decided to leave the camp?