Brian is on his way to Canada to visit his estranged father when the pilot of his small prop plane suffers a heart attack. Brian is forced to crash-land the plane in a lake--and finds himself stranded in the remote Canadian wilderness with only his clothing and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present before his departure.
Brian had been distraught over his parents' impending divorce and the secret he carries about his mother, but now he is truly desolate and alone. Exhausted, terrified, and hungry, Brian struggles to find food and make a shelter for himself. He has no special knowledge of the woods, and he must find a new kind of awareness and patience as he meets each day's challenges. Is the water safe to drink? Are the berries he finds poisonous?
Slowly, Brian learns to turn adversity to his advantage--an invading porcupine unexpectedly shows him how to make fire, a devastating tornado shows him how to retrieve supplies from the submerged airplane. Most of all, Brian leaves behind the self-pity he has felt about his predicament as he summons the courage to stay alive.
A story of survival and of transformation, this riveting book has sparked many a reader's interest in venturing into the wild.
Gary Paulsen was a popular writer for young people around the world. Paulsen was a book lover from his childhood. He developed a love for reading at a young age. When he got his first book issued from the library he went to the basement of his house and read it without a stop. He then read several books in the basement of his house.
Paulsen didn’t have an actual family life til the age of seven. He lived with different people, first with his grandmother. At the age of seven he went to live with his mother. She took him to Manila, Philippines, where his father was already living. Every day bickering and sometimes severe conflicts of his parents left Paulsen distressed. Gary could not tolerate his parent’s disturbed life for long time and ran away at the age of 14 and worked on a sugar beet farm. He quit that job and spent the rest of the summer as a “carnie” in the carnival.
He came back home and studied high school; graduating in 1957 with a D- average. He could not study more than five months at a single school. Gary Paulsen led an adventurous life throughout his youth. He joined the army and was honorably discharged after 3 years. He experienced rigorous chores on different farms, followed by miscellaneous jobs like working in a construction company, as a helping hand at a ranch, truck driver and sailor.
