Brian's Winter

This is a direct continuation/alternate ending/retcon of Hatchet, the first book in the series. It changes the ending of Hatchet, so that Brian was still stuck in the wilderness as winter came. We therefore get to see how he applies his hard-earned survival experience and his wilderness-attuned mentality to get through the extreme cold and bad weather of winter.

I like this ending of the story better than the one in Hatched. Brian was ready for this extra challenge, so why deprive readers of the pleasure of seeing him cope with winter?

Once more, the writing is average and simplistic, but the survival and nature content still makes up for it. I'm giving it 3 stars instead of the 4 I gave to Hatchet, however, because I felt the show more storytelling was a bit by-the-numbers, as if Brian overcame the challenges too easily this time, so there was less conflict. It never felt like he might fail and die at any moment.

Still, this completes Brian's ordeal and coming-of-age nicely, and complements Hatchet as a life-changing experience for him.

One pet peeve: in the end, I would have liked more about what how Brian's family and the world in general reacted to his unexpected survival. I felt a bit cheated that this was not explored. show less

Ok. This is the point in the series where we start to see really see the white-man-idolizes-pre-colonial-native-people-an-uncomfortable-amount thing that plagues the wilderness survival genre. Paulsen handles in better than a LOT of other authors have, that is for sure, but I still think it is important to point out and discuss. Still a book I love, still a beautiful meditation on isolation, survival, nature and its effects on the psyche.

I can't help but be impressed with the author's ability to include so many details of being in the north and conveying them through the fictional narrative.

A really interesting walk through surviving in a northern winter. In the end, it almost felt like it was too easy to me; like the obstacles that Brian faced were almost too easily overcome. But it was enjoyable and I learned a lot.

I liked this alternate ending to Hatchet. Getting to see how Brian would have overcome surviving in the outdoors over the winter was interesting. I can't imagine being that aware or knowledgeable if I was in the same situation.

This short novel features an alternate ending for Paulson's novel Hatchet. In this book, Brian is not rescued at the end of summer. Instead, he has to face the northern winter.

My incoming 7th grader read this as one of his summer reading choices off of a small list. He and I both enjoyed this more than we liked Hatchet. He found Hatchet very repetitive, I found it whiney (though I realize a boy SHOULD whine in such a situation, but it was tiring to read). In this book, Brian is much more confident in his ingenuity and abilities.

What if?

What if Brian, lost in the northern wilderness in June, was not rescued by the time winter arrived? How could he survive the subzero cold, how could he eat, how could he stay warm?

Author Gary Paulsen has taken the main character of his book Hatchet, and has spun another tale of perseverance and determination. As with the other books in this series, the reader is drawn into Brian's world, and kept there by an excellent storyteller. And as before, I did not want to put down Brian's Winter until the conclusion. Recommended.