My book is Hatchet; it was written by Gary Paulsen. It was published in 1987.

The main character in this book is Brian who is 13 years old. Brian was flying to his fatherís house in Canada when the driver had a heart attack and the plane crashed in a lake but Brian escaped. Then all Brian had was a hatchet that his mother gave him before he left and his clothes. So now Brian had to find how to survive in the wilderness with only a hatchet. Most of the things he accomplished were accomplished through trial and error. For example, when he made a bow and arrow, his first bow snapped into tiny pieces. Another thing that helped Brian survive was that he became more aware of what was around him and this played a large role in finding food. Brian finally got home by getting the survival pack out of the plane and turning on the emergency transmitter until a plane came and rescued him.

I think that the geography was important in this book because if the lake was not there when Brian crashed, the plane would have been torn up in the trees. The geography was also important because Brian would not have been able to start a fire without the right kind of rock that makes sparks and he would not have the same animals to hunt for and eat. Another way the geography affected the story was that if Brian had crashed in a city he would only have to find a pay phone and call his parents.

Some things from this book that I liked were that Brian made things simple. For example, instead of saying "The first rabbit he killed and ate" he would say "first meat." Another good thing about this book is that it has great descriptions. I could feel the mosquitoes clogging up my nose when they were in Brianís nose. Another good part of the book was when the author told when Brianís senses adapted to his environment. I think this book had a great epilogue that told all the information that this book needed to be understood very well.