Brian's Winter

I read Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen. It is about Brian Robeson; a thirteen year old boy that is still lost in the Canadian wilderness with one tool, a hatchet. It is the second book in the Hatchet series. This book answers the question, What if Brian was never rescued and had to survive the winter? Brian is smart because he made a bow out of a stick and string and arrows out of sticks and flint. He is also smart because he stayed close to the plane just in case someone knew where the plane was. Brian is brave because he was in the Canadian wilderness by himself with bears, wolves, and other animals that could hurt him. A couple of times he even saw a bear but did not run away.

To survive, Brian used the bow that he made to kill rabbits, deer, and a moose. He hunted foolbirds with the gun he found in the survival bag that he got from the plane in the book Hatchet. Brian made a small spear out of a stick that he sharpened with his hatchet to go spearfishing. He cooked the meat and fish with a fire that he made by using dry grass, a twenty dollar bill that he had in his pocket, a rock that he found on the ground, and his hatchet, which he scraped on the rock to make sparks.  Brian made snowshoes out of deer hide/skin so he could walk on the snow without sinking in. Brian lived under a small overhang. He made walls out of rocks and made a small hole in the top to let the smoke from the fire out. Once when he was hunting, he saw a bear and a skunk that he named Betty. Betty scared the bear away to protect Brian. After that Brian had to keep feeding Betty or Brian thought that he would get sprayed. Also Brian saw wolves eating a moose when he was hunting. When Brian was going to sleep and he heard gunshots kind of close to him, he looked outside and saw nothing so he went back to bed. At the end of the story Brian found dog sled tracks so he followed them and they lead to a house. The house had sled dogs and the dogs were barking at Brian.  A man and his family heard the dogs barking so they came to the door and opened it and said “hello, who are you?”  Brian said “I got in a plane crash over there” and the man said “I smelled your smoke but I didn't want to bother you” and the man let him in his hut to have some beaver because they had enough for everyone. Brian stayed with them for three weeks until a plane came to pick Brian up and bring him home.

I liked the book because of all the skills that Brian used to survive. Also, it was written by my favorite author Gary Paulsen. I would recommend that you read Hatchet before you read Brian's Winter because otherwise you will not understand Brian’s Winter. I would rate it four out of five stars. I will recommend it to my friends and family to read

By Joshua James

Brian's Winter

AR level: 5.9

AR points: 6