I discovered Hatchet by accident. One February or March when they passed out those Scholastic order forms in class, I placed an order for a book I really wanted. One month later, to my horror and outrage, they’d sent me a completely different book that sounded outright boring (Hatchet). Yes, another month later they corrected my order, and I got to keep the first book free, but I gave up trying to read it for a good number of years more.

Finally I picked up Hatchet and determined to read it. Once I’d gotten past the point of my duplicate reading, I found the story enthralling.

The plot is simple: When…(I’m intentionally leaving that vague), a boy in the small plane survives. Now he must survive in the middle of nowhere.

Simple plot, great story. Go get Hatchet and give it a try.