This special anniversary edition includes a new introduction and commentary by author Gary Paulsen, pen-and-ink illustrations by Drew Willis, and a water resistant cover. His only two survival tools, his mind and a hatchet, which was a present from his mother. Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his mother’s. Hatchet is a book about a thirteen year old boy, Brian Robeson, who goes through many experiences that ultimately gets him stranded in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

When Brian is finally rescued after fifty-four days in the wild, he emerges from his ordeal with new patience and maturity, and a greater understanding of himself and his parents. Celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Newbery Honorwinning survival novel Hatchet with a pocket-sized edition perfect for travelers to take along on their own adventures. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

He is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present.Īt first consumed by despair and self-pity, Brian slowly learns survival skills-how to make a shelter for himself, how to hunt and fish and forage for food, how to make a fire-and even finds the courage to start over from scratch when a tornado ravages his campsite. When the plane crashes, killing the pilot, the sole survivor is Brian. Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his mother’s infidelity, is traveling by single-engine plane to visit his father for the first time since the divorce. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. This award-winning contemporary classic is the survival story with which all others are compared-and a page-turning, heart-stopping adventure, recipient of the Newbery Honor.

Hatchet book cover