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Hatchet By: Gary Paulsen
Created by: Danielle Mueller
About the Author-‐ Gary Paulsen is an American writer of young adult literature, best known for his stories about the wilderness and coming of age. Paulsen ran away from home at the age of 14, and had a difficult childhood. His stories are woven from his personal experiences. Hatchet, now regarded as a modern-‐day classic, won him the Newbery Honor Award. Summary-‐ 13-‐year-‐old Brian Robeson is on his way to
visit his father when the tiny bush plane he is on crashes in the Canadian wilderness. With nothing but the clothes on his back and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present, Brian not only has to learn how to make it alone in the wilderness, but he must also learn how to tame his inner fear and despair in order to survive. Major Themes:
• Survival • Coming of Age / Maturation • Man vs. Nature • Man vs. Self • Independence • Perseverance
Table of Contents: PAGE # ACTIVITY 2-‐5 Charts for taking notes while reading 6 Chart for new vocabulary words 7-‐8 Discussion questions 9 Important quotes 10 Themes 11 Journal activity 12 Connecting to my life activity 13 Comparing Brian and myself activity 14 Connections to outside literature and authors activity 15 Crossword puzzle activity 16 Crossword clues 17 Answer key (for teachers)
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TAKING NOTES WHILE READING… One of the most important aspects to being a close reader is to annotate! As you read through the chapters take notes about the important plot
events that occur during Brian’s journey.
Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Ch. 3
Ch. 4
Ch. 5
3
Ch. 6
Ch. 7
Ch. 8
Ch. 9
Ch. 10
4
Ch. 11
Ch. 12
Ch. 13
Ch. 14
Ch. 15
5
Ch. 16
Ch. 17
Ch. 18
Ch. 19
Epilogue
6
Vocabulary While reading, it is important to keep track of vocab words that are not familiar to you. If you come across a word you don’t know while reading, write it in the table below, and then use a dictionary to define the word. Next time you run into that
word, you’ll know exactly what it means!
Vocab Word Definition
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Discussion Questions
Chapters 1-‐3: • What is happening between Brian’s parent’s? Where is Brian going for the
summer? • What do you think “the secret” could be about? • Seeing that the title of this book is Hatchet, and a hatchet has already been
introduced to us in the story, what do you think this says about the important of this object, and why?
• What happens to the plane Brian is traveling in and why? Chapters 4-‐6:
• What is “the secret” that Brian is carrying around with him? • What does Brian use/ remember in order to motivate himself against the
hopelessness and sadness he feels? • What does Brian decide he will do with “the secret” as soon as he gets back to
civilization? • Do you think it was smart of Brian to eat those unfamiliar berries? Why? Why
not? Chapters 7-‐9:
• Why does Brian allow himself to cry when he sees his reflection in the lake? Why do you think Paulsen described these as “wasted tears” (68)?
• What found its way into Brian’s tent in the beginning of chapter 8? • What does Brian realize he can use his hatchet for that was inspired by his
dream including Terry and his father? • How would you explain Brian’s feelings after he has successfully made his
first fire? Chapters 10-‐12:
• What new source of food does Brian come across near the lake? • What activities keep Brian busy? • What physical and mental transformations has Brian gone through since the
plane crash? Explain. • How is Brian’s mood/ emotions different at the end of chapter 12 compared
to how he was feeling at the end of chapter 11? Why has this change occurred? What sparked it?
Chapters 13-‐15:
• What is meant when Brian refers to himself as the “new Brian”? • After Brian seems to hit a new low of depression, what makes him begin to
feel optimistic? How is Brian’s hope different now from the kind of hope he had before?
• What are some lessons that Brain learns from the skunk incident?
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• How does Brian keep track of time? How is this different from how time is kept in the civilized world?
• What does Brian finally get to enjoy at the end of chapter 15? Chapters 16-‐18:
• What new animal did Brian come in contact with? What was the result of this interaction? Push a little further, do you think this could have served as a reminder of any sorts for Brian? Explain.
• What does Brian realize is still underwater? Why is this so important to Brian at this time?
• Talk a little about the process Brian had to go through in order to get the survival pack. Do you think you could’ve done all of that? Do you think it will be worth the effort?
Chapters 19 + Epilogue:
• What were some of the things that Brian found in the survival pack? Why did the gun make him so uncomfortable?
• Discuss some of the positives and negatives of the survival pack. • What feelings did you experience at the end of the novel? How do you feel
about the ending? • Why do you think Brian didn’t tell his father about “the secret”? Do you think
that he should’ve?
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Important Quotes Below are a list of important quotes from the book. Keep an eye out for them as you
read. Think about why these quotes are important.
• "All of flying is easy. Just takes learning. Like everything else. Like everything else (5)".
• “For the first time since the crash he was not thinking of himself, or his own life. Brian was wondering if the bear was as surprised as he to find another being in the berries” (75).
• “Later he looked back on the time of crying in the corner of the dark cave and thought of it as when he learned the most important rule of survival, which was that feeling sorry for yourself didn’t work” (79).
• “And he had to keep hoping. He had to keep hoping” (99). • “I am not the same, he thought. I see, I hear differently” (101-‐102). • “None of that used to be in Brian and now it was a part of him, a changed part of him, and the two things, his mind and his body, had come together as well, had made a connection with each other that he didn’t quite understand” (102).
• “I am full of tough hope” (123). • “Small mistakes could turn into disasters, funny little mistakes could snowball so that while you were still smiling at the humor you could find yourself looking at death” (124).
• “So much of this was patience—waiting and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking” (141).
• “I might be hit but I’m not done. When the light comes I’ll start to rebuild. I still have the hatchet and that’s all I had in the first place” (152).
• “Without the hatchet he had nothing—no fire, no tools, no weapons—he was nothing. The hatchet was, had been him” (168).
• “Incredible wealth. It was like all the holidays in the world, all the birthdays there were. He sat in the sun by the doorway where he had dropped the night before and pulled the presents—as he thought of them—out one at a time to examine them, turn them in the light, touch them and feel them with his hands and eyes” (179).
• “Many of the changes would prove to be permanent” (186).
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Themes Below, in the picture of the plane are some words that can be used to describe the overall theme of this book. Search for the different words in the picture below and then write them over in the space provided with explanations as to why you think
this is a theme of Hatchet.
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You are Here… In Hatchet, 13 year old Brian has no choice in deciding to live in the wilderness. You have a choice. If you were to pick one place in the world to be dropped randomly for a week, alone, without anything but the clothes on your back where would you go? Why? What would you do there? What would you see there? What/ how would you
eat? Be creative!
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Connections to Me After you read the book, use these questions to connect some of the concepts from this book to your own life and compare yourself to Brian and what he went through.
You’ll be surprised at both the similarities and differences!
• Brian’s hatchet was key to his survival in the wilderness. Think about some things that you could absolutely not live without. Would this thing(s)/object(s) help you found yourself in a situation similar to Brian’s? How are your thing(s)/object(s) similar and different to Brian’s hatchet?
• Mistakes. We all make them, and we shouldn’t be afraid to make them, however some mistakes have much more severe outcomes compared to other kinds of mistakes. What are some mistakes that you have made? Think about the consequences those mistakes have had on you.
• One of the most useful things to Brian when he was in the wilderness was patience. Think about time in which being patience, for you, has paid off.
• After the moose attacks Brian and then a tornado destroys his shelter it says a lot about Brian that he can persevere through the situation and push on. Has anything ever happened to you in which it would have been easy to give up, however you were able to push on? How were you able to do this? Was it worth it?
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Comparing to Me Use the space below to compare and contrast yourself to Brian from Hatchet.
Brian Me
Brian Similarities Name:______________________
14
Connections to Outside Topics Read the quotes below that have been pulled from other sources of literature and authors. Underneath, write about how you think the quote relates to Brian and the
adventure he found himself experiencing during Hatchet.
Henry David Thoreau, among many other things, was an American author and poet who died in 1862. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals”. “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves”. “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters
compared to what lives within us”. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henry_david_thoreau.html#ESo1kotdZYZT3bkd.99
_________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and author of the popular book, Into the Wild. “The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun”. “You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships… It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living”. “The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.” http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3284484-‐into-‐the-‐wild __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Crossword Complete the crossword below using the clues given on the next page. Write each answer in pencil and in capital letters. Some answers are two words, however, there
will be no space in between two-‐word answers.
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Crossword Clues
Across:
3. What did Brian name the berries that upset his stomach?
6. Man vs. _________ would be considered another major theme to this novel.
10. What wild creature attacked Brian during the night while he was sleeping?
11. After Brian has a dream about his father and his best friend Terry, what did
Brian figure out that he could use his hatchet for?
Down:
1. What did Brian's mother give him before he left on the plane to visit his dad?
2. What is the main theme of this book?
4. How does Brian refer to the incident he observed regarding his mom and another
man? (What does he call this)
5. What did Brian remember was still in the plane toward the end of the book?
7. What animal attacked Brian by the lake, badly hurting his ribs?
8. What object in the survival kit made Brian uncomfortable?
9. What kind of animal did Brian run into while picking berries?
11. What did Brian name the birds that he often captured for food?
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Answer Key This page contains some information to help out teachers.
Vocab: Here are some words that may be challenging for students:
• Tundra (7) • Audible (10) • Turbulence (14) • Hummocks (37) • Amphibious (45) • Pulverized (55)
Crossword Puzzle:
• Across: 3. GUTCHERRIES 6. NATURE 10. PORCUPINE 11. FIRE
• Down: 1. HATCHET 2. SURVIVAL 4. THESECRET 5. SURVIVALKIT 7. MOOSE 8. RIFLE 9. BEAR 11. FOOLBIRD