Hatchet Introduction

Hatchet Introduction

Gary Paulsen is a successful graduate of the school of hard knocks. From an early age, he was fending for himself, working odd jobs and camping out in the woods alone for weeks at a time. He's run the Iditarod (the famously grueling, 1,049-mile Alaskan sled-dog race) three times, trained horses in New Mexico, sailed around the Pacific in a beat-up sailboat, and lived in some of the harshest environments in the world. No big deal. Oh, and school definitely wasn't his thing: he flunked out of ninth grade, and when he made it to college years later, he quit after just a few months.

Not quite the resume you'd expect from one of the best-selling kids' writers of all time. Paulsen has written almost two hundred books since his first work, called Some Birds Don't Fly, came out in 1968. He's a triple Newbery Honor winner, and he has more than 26 million books in print. But it's not his silver-tongued prose that keeps 'em coming back for more. Nope. It's his ability to act as every kid's own personal wilderness tour guide that makes his books really special.

If you want to know what it's really like to live out in the wild and struggle with the elements, Gary Paulsen is your go-to guy. And Hatchet is your go-to book. Hatchet, the story of a boy stranded alone for weeks in the Canadian woods, is Paulsen's best-known, best-loved work. First published in 1987, it has inspired devotion from generations of kids, and it's still going strong.

In fact, the book is so popular that Paulsen has written four sequels (The River, Brian's Winter, Brian's Return, and Brian's Hunt) as well as a nonfiction companion book called Guts. But even with all these sequels (not to mention all the books written later by other authors inspired by Paulsen's example), Hatchet still stands as one of the best kids' adventure books of all time. We think that's saying something—don't you?

What is Hatchet About and Why Should I Care?

Walk away from your computer. No, really, we mean it. Stand up, go look out the window, and then come back. It's okay—we'll wait.

Okay, what did you see? A manicured lawn? A street with cars parked along either side? The apartment building next to yours? Whatever it was, we're willing to bet it probably wasn't anything like what the main character of Hatchet sees when he wakes up next to the lake in the morning. And it probably wasn't anything like the environment human beings have lived in throughout most of our history on this planet.

The fact is, nowadays we spend less time outside than we ever have before. You can't swing a dead moose lately without hitting another article or study about how little time kids spend outside. 

Now, we know that you're awesome—after all, you're here at Shmoop, right?—but if you're like most of us, chances are the closest you've gotten to roughing it is when you went car camping with your family at Yosemite. (And believe us, we're right there with you.)

But think about it. As human beings, we've spent most of our history climbing trees, living on the savannah, or building little huts made of sticks so we can make it through the winter. When it comes right down to it, being in nature is what's really, ahem, natural for us. It's only in the last little instant of cosmic time that we've managed to crawl up out of the mud, figure out how to construct flush toilets, and get our grubby little hands on the remote control.

So you kind of have to wonder, in our great rush to leave the world of the woods behind, is there anything else we've left behind? Anything we've lost, that maybe we can't afford to lose? Anything important, elemental, maybe even necessary to what it means to be human? Gary Paulsen seems to think the answer is yes.

So pull up a chair—or better yet, go find a nice comfy patch of grass to lie down on—open the book, and start getting back to nature.

Hatchet Resources

Websites

Gary Paulsen's Home—er, House?—at Random House
There's lots of juicy information here, including Paulsen's Iditarod journal, a list of the books he's written, and his top ten "survival tips."

How to Build a Lean-To
Step by step instructions (with lots of photos) on how to build an emergency shelter from dead branches and leaves. Just in case you ever find yourself on a plane with a pilot whose clock is ticking.

Movie or TV Productions

A Cry in the Wild (1990)
Although this movie adaptation of Hatchet has a screenplay co-written by Gary Paulsen, it lacks the intensity of the book and is disappointingly dull. It does offer quite a lot of nice scenery, though. Hey, it's something.

Articles and Interviews

Interview with the Author
Get some answers straight from the author's mouth.

This is Your Life, Gary Paulsen
This article, written by educator and author Jim Trelease, is a fantastic overview of Paulsen's life and writing. And what a life (and writing!) he had.

Profile of Gary Paulsen
In this New York Times profile, Paulsen talks about his childhood, why he doesn't like grown-ups, and a bear's preferred way of eating people (definite yuck warning).

National Geographic Kids Interviews Gary Paulsen
Kids take the lead in this interview with the author.

Video

"You can be the most popular person in the world—a bear will still eat your head."
In this video produced by his publisher in 2010, Gary Paulsen talks about how he became a writer, what it's like to run the Iditarod, and why fame isn't important to him.

Gary Paulsen: Part 1
Check out this video of Gary Paulsen talking about how libraries saved his life and what it was like to be in the army at the age of 17.

Gary Paulsen: Part 2
Paulsen talks about learning to run dogs for the Iditarod.

Audio

Gary Paulsen Interview
In this audio interview, Paulsen talks about his childhood, how he became a writer, and why he writes for children instead of adults. Just don't let your parents listen to this one, kids—it's kind of insulting to grown-ups.

Drumming Up a Mate
This audio recording from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology lets you hear the odd drumming sound male ruffed grouse make when searching for a mate. Way cool.

Images

Gary Paulsen
Does this picture just scream "rugged," or what?

A Hatchet
A picture of a hatchet, just like good old Brian's.

Hatchet, the 20th Anniversary Edition
Here's our book, all dressed up and pretty for its birthday.

Ruffed Grouse
A photograph of a ruffed grouse, the "foolbird" that Brian learns to hunt with his spear.