The book I read was Hatchet. Gary Paulsen wrote it. The book is a fantasy. I enjoyed reading it.

            There is really only one character in the story. His name is Brian and he has to survive the harsh winter in a Canadian forest. He is 13 years old and his parents got a divorce. He is very talented. He is also very patient. He survives the winter for 45 days until he gets rescued. From the beginning of the story to the end, he changes from a boy to a man. He does the right thing when he decides to go and search for food and build a shelter. Another character is the pilot of the plane. He is an old man. He has a heart attack and Brian has to land the plane.

            The main setting of this story is the forests of northern Canada. Brian gets stuck there because the pilot had a heart attack. Another setting is Hampton, New York. It is where his mother lives. The main setting is where most of the story takes place. It brings the whole story together. I couldn’t think of a better setting then the one Gary Paulsen chose. It fits the story perfectly.

            The theme of the story is to never give up. Another one is to expect the unexpected. The story is about courage, hard working, and never giving up. This book showed me to pay attention in survival class. It also taught me to never give up. The problem of the story was he was stranded all by himself, in the middle of nowhere. It was solved by not giving up on survival, and getting rescued.

            The first main event of the story is when the plane crashes in the northern forests of Canada. The pilot dies and Brian is the only survivor. The next event is when Brian finally realizes what happened. He realizes that he’s still alive. He also realizes that he is all alone in the middle of nowhere. It takes him a whole day to figure it all out. Another event is when Brian finds food and builds himself shelter. It protects him from harsh cold weather. His greed for food led to vomiting. After that he learns that the hatchet is the key, the key to survival. With the hatchet he hits a stone, which cause sparks. The sparks make a fire.  Another event is he makes a bow and arrow. He uses that bow for hunting in a more precise way. The last main event is when Brian gets rescued. Of course, his parents are happy and excited.

            I liked the book a lot. It was suspenseful and always kept me wondering. The book was so exciting that when I stopped reading, it always made me want to read more. I liked everything about the book. There really wasn’t anything I didn’t like about it. It wasn’t confusing or hard to believe at all. The story wasn’t predictable. It was actually very unpredictable. The ending was when he got rescued.