Hatchet part 1

Have you ever been so scared of being alone? Has there ever a time that you thought that you were going to die because you were in a situation that you were uncomfortable with. That was what Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy experienced when his plane crashed in the middle of the woods. Brain was traveling to see his dad in Canada after he saw his mom with another man. In his mind he was dealing with a lot. Then the pilot had a heart attack as they were flying. Brain was freaking out. I was freaking out for Brain. When the plane landed in the water Brain had only a few things left with him, one of those things being a hatchet.  

What do you do when you are so desperate, and need of survival? Do you just sit back and wait? Do you make the most of it and figure out how to survive? Or do you just give up? These are some of the questions that I think Brian was asking himself not only when the plane landed, but as time went on and no one was coming. I would even turn these questions into questions for my students. Depending on which one they picked, I would have them design a plan of action. If they were to just sit back and wait for someone to rescue them, what would they do with their time? Would they need a shelter and food? If they were to build a shelter what would it look like? What food would they find, and how would they get that food? What about other animals in the wild? So many questions can come from this book and so many activities. If you are wanting to know what the shelter would look like, provide some material and have students design their shelter. To make it hard have them consider rain or other weather elements. Also have them write or tell why they built the shelter the way they did; make it so they have to think about it.

This book kept me interesting and wanting to keep on reading, so I could see what happened to Brian. This is a great book to make predictions with.

There is one line in the first half of the book that I loved. Brian was thinking about what Perpich use to tell him, “You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.” I thought this line was great because you are one of the most valuable asset you can have while surviving. Thinking quick on your feet, and thinking about every situation either before or after something happens is important. I think this is a great quote for students and one that should be talk about with the class. Some students have different assets to them. Some are more physical that could, most likely build the shelter or move logs. While others are more of the visual, they can see what the shelter could look like before they actually build it. I can see a teacher putting this together as a project. A group of students is stranded in the forest each of you has a different job. What job would you have and why? I think that would be really fun and great interaction among students.