Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present—and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parents’ divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self-pity, or despair—it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.
“In a straightforward and compelling narration, Peter Coyote captures Brian's terror, anguish and exultation as he learns to survive alone in the wilderness.”–AudioFile
Gary Paulsen grew up in the Philippines and has worked as a sailor, archer, trapper, singer, actor and carnival worker, amongst others. He is the author of many critically acclaimed books for young people, and has won the prestigious Newbery Honor Award three times, for his books The Winter Room, Hatchet and Dogsong. He lives in New Mexico and on a boat in the Pacific, with his wife, the painter Ruth Wright Paulsen.