This book is a continuation of the Hatchet stories following Brian. In this story, Brian goes out to the Canadian woods to have a nice camping trip away from civilization. When he is watching the fire one night, Brian sees a dog limping through the woods. He quickly sees a large gash in one side of the dog’s body. Usually Brian would leave a dog alone because he figures that it is just nature working itself out but for this dog it’s different. He noticed that it isn’t a wild dog. Brian knows that it is the kind of dog that hunters will take with them on hunts. Brian also knows that there isn’t a single road around for a very long time and the only way to get that far into the Canadian woods is to be flown in by a hydro-plane that can land on a large lake.

Soon this story turns into a mystery about what happened to this strange dog. Some more questions arise about the dog. Why didn’t the dog go back to its owner instead of walking for many miles to Brian? What could have done this to the dog? Where did the dog come from? To answer these questions, Brian sets out to go visit a good friend of his that he knows lives just a few miles away. When he gets to the island that his friend lives on, he finds that it is strangely quiet. When he walks into their cabin, the whole place has been trashed.

Next he walks up to the shed and he sees three dead dogs on leashes and one broken leash. He soon figures that the dog came from here. He goes back into the cabin to find his friend and finds after some searching, his friend in the corner of the room with a blanket over his head, dead.

Brian remembers that the family has a mother, and two daughters, and a son. So he goes to find the rest of the family. He later finds that the mother had been dragged away to be eaten later by the bear that attacked them. Brian wonders where the other children were. He finds proof that the bear has chased someone in a canoe off the island and goes to find them. When he finds the oldest daughter he is glad to hear that the younger two kids were away with their grandmother. So he goes to find and kill the bear that killed his friend. Once the bear is found, Brian and the bear have a major battle and Brian wins and gets his revenge for what the bear did to his friend. Once again the good guy wins the battle and saves the fair dame.

The setting: Key to Understanding the Story

A map of Canada is important to the story because this is where the story takes place. All you really know about his location is that he is somewhere in the Canadian woods following a river and lakes. The story never specifies what river it is.

A bear is important to the story because that is what the story is about. In the book he goes to meet a good old friend and he finds that a bear has killed and taken away his friend. In revenge Brian, the main charter in the story, goes on a hunt to find and kill the bear that killed his friend.

The next important object is a bow and arrow. The bow and arrow is important because it is how Brian gets food and kills the bear. Without the bow and arrows Brian would starve and most-likely die from the bear.

Woods are very important to this story. They are so important because it is where Brian lived, got his food, made his weapons from, and where he hunted the bear. As you can see, with out the woods there would be no story so the woods are definitely an important part.

Camping gear is very important to Brian. With out his camping gear Brian would probably freeze in the cold Canadian air. Also, it helped him have plenty of gear for any situation that is why it is so important to Brian to have camping gear.