Paulsen, Gary. The River. NY: Random House, 1991. 130 pages. (Survival Series)
The book I read was The River. The main characters are Brain, and Derek (survival teacher). The story takes place in the wilderness next to a river (100 miles east where he crashed in Hatchet). Some problems they face are no food, water, shelter, and fire. Brian and Derek solve the problems by using survival techniques that Brian used in Hatchet, and Brian’s Winter, such as making a trap that catches fish, but they can’t get out, boiling water to make it fresh, and sneaking up on their prey (deer, rabbits, moose, birds.) One of the problems that they face is that Derek got struck by lightning and is in a coma and Brian has to travel 100 miles south to get to civilization. One other interesting event that happens in the novel is that Brian has to build a raft and it surprisingly held up to the rapids.
How I would describe this book is, fantastic, adventurous, has a great story plot, and setting. I would recommend it to a 10-14 year old person because if they like adventure, how to survive in the wild, and other techniques then they should definitely read the Gary Paulsen Brian book series. How I feel about the novel is that it inspires me to do what I like to do and that is going to the wild.
Reviewed by: LT28
