Hatchet

by Gary Paulsen

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Hatchet by Gary Paulsen- Audiobook CD

Brand New :    3 CDs  3.75 hours

Brian Robeson is stranded and alone in the Canadian wilderness after the pilot of the single-engine Cessna plane in which he is traveling suffers a fatal heart attack. Brian is forced to try to land the plane, but ends up crash-landing the plane into the trees and sliding down into the water. He just manages to escape as the plane sinks in a remote lake.

Brian figures out how to make fire. He forces himself to eat whatever food he can find, such as turtle eggs, fish, berries, fruit, some rabbits, and even a couple of birds. He deals with a porcupine, bear, skunk, moose, and a tornado. He eventually becomes quite a craftsman, crafting a bow, arrows, and a spear. He also fashions a shelter out of the underside of a rock overhang. During the story, he struggles with memories of home, and the bittersweet memory of his mother, who Brian has discovered was cheating on his father.

When a tornado hits the woods and lake, it draws the plane wreckage toward the shore of the lake. Brian makes a raft from a few broken off tree tops to get to the plane. When Brian is working his way into the plane, he drops his hatchet in the water. He realizes how critical the hatchet is for his survival. After diving twice, he retrieves the hatchet and narrowly avoids drowning. Inside the plane, he finds a survival pack, which has an emergency transmitter, many packs of food, a first aid kit, and an AR-7 (.22 survival rifle). Brian activates the transmitter, but not knowing how to work it, he thinks it is broken. As he is eating the food packs, a fur trader arrives in a water plane some time after because he caught the transmiter's signal. Finally, after reaching his father, he is no closer to being able to tell him about the mother's affair than at the novel's beginning

About the Author Gary Paulsen  

Born on May 17 in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1939,Gary Paulsenwas raised by his grandmother and aunts. At the age of 14 Gary Paulsen had run away from home to join a carnival. Paulsen used his work as a magazine proofreader to learn the craft of writing. In 1966, his first book was published under the title The Special War . Using his varied life experiences, especially those of an outdoorsman (a hunter, trapper, and three-time competitor in the 1,150-mile (1,850 km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race), Gary Paulsen writes about what he knows best.

Much of Gary Paulsen's work features the outdoors and highlights the importance of nature. Gary Paulsen often uses "coming of age" themes in his novels, where a character masters the art of survival in isolation as a rite of passage to manhood and maturity. He is critical of technology and has been called a Luddite. Some of Gary Paulsen's most well-known books are the Hatchet series, although he has published many other popular novels including Dogsong, Harris and Me, and The Winter Room, which won the Newbery Honor. Woodsong and Winterdance are among the most popular books about the Iditarod.

Paulsen competed in the 1983 and 1985 Iditarods. In 1990, due to angina, he gave up dog sledding, which he has described as the most difficult decision he has ever made. After more than a decade spent sailing all over the Pacific, Paulsen got back into dog sledding in 2003. In 2005, he was scheduled to compete in the 2005 Iditarod after a 20-year absence, but withdrew shortly before the start of the race. He participated in the 2006 Iditarod, but scratched after two days. Paulsen lives in La Luz, New Mexico with his wife, Ruth Wright Paulsen, an artist who has illustrated several of his books. He also maintains a 40-acre (160,000 m2) spread north of Willow, Alaska where he breeds and trains sled dogs for the Iditarod.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen- Audiobook CD