Hatchet

📚 Why We Recommend It

For readers craving stories that blend heart-pounding adventure with raw, real growth—Hatchet by Gary Paulsen isn’t just a survival novel; it’s a masterclass in resilience that stays with you long after the final page.

Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson’s journey starts with a secret: the weight of his mother’s infidelity hangs over him as he flies to his father’s home. Then the unthinkable happens—his small plane crashes, leaving him alone in the Canadian wilderness, with nothing but a tattered windbreaker and a hatchet (a gift from his mom) to survive. What follows isn’t just “how to build a fire” or “find food”—it’s a brutal, beautiful transformation: from crippling despair to quiet grit, from fumbling to forage to outsmarting nature, even rebuilding his camp from scratch after a tornado destroys everything.

Paulsen, a three-time Newbery Honor winner, doesn’t sugarcoat the struggle. The details feel lived-in (you’ll hold your breath when Brian fights off a moose or struggles to start a fire for days) and the emotional arc is just as sharp—Brian’s 54 days in the wild don’t just teach him survival skills; they teach him to face his own pain and understand his parents. With over 5.7 million copies sold and a spot on PBS’s The Great American Read, this book has earned its status as a classic. For readers 9+, it’s a page-turner that asks: What would you do if the only person you could rely on was yourself? The answer, in Brian’s story, is both thrilling and profound.