Brian's Winter

Title: Brian’s Winter
Author: Gary Paulsen
Publisher: Scholastic
Place and year of publication: Broadway, New York 1996
Number of pages: 133
Where I found the book: CHS Library

Thirteen year old Brian Robeson is stranded in the Canadian wilderness. To survive he must rely on his intelligence, his instinct, and a hatchet. He had been in a plane crash. He had lived day by day for 54 days until he found the survival pack in the plane which has helped live. This book is a companion book to “Hatchet” and the plot is “what would happen if Brian had not been rescued by the plane. In "Hatchet” Brian has nothing to help him survive except the few items he happened to have with him when the plane crashed. The title Brian’s winter means that this book will be talking about Brian surviving the winter. It doesn’t mention what time this happens but we know it happens in winter time. In this story Brian is the only main character. The theme of this book is don’t lose hope in hardest situations and think of ways on how you can improve that situation. Brian is one of those people who are actually better off independently.

In this book there are 2 parts, the first part is fall and second part is winter. In The Fall Brian receives many signs that winter is coming but doesn’t notice them until the end of fall. In the survival package there was a rifle but Brian was not comfortable with it and it was running out of bullets so he stuck to his bow and arrow. One night as Brian sleeps in his shelter a bear comes and eats some of Brian’s fish. Brian then notices the bears blocking the shelter and Brian yells “Hey- get out of here”. The bear threw Brian across the campground leaving him scratched and soar in the morning. Brian then decided he would need to make a larger weapon he couldn’t use his small bow because it was good for smaller game like rabbits and fool birds. He then made 2 larger bows, one served as a spare. He could use this bow to defend himself and hunt bigger game. Later on in fall he with more and  more signs of winter coming, Brian decides to winter proof his shelter by filling in mud through the wooden walls like how he saw beavers do it. He also has a small fire inside his shelter. Other ways Brian gets ready for winter is by making a vest from rabbits skin to wear.

One day he decides to hunt bigger game so as he was outside his camp ground he saw a group of wolves eating a deer he waited for the wolves to finish and took what’s left of the deer for himself. There was a lot of deer meat left and lasted weeks. He would also make boots from the deer hide. A couple days later he notices he is laying between an angry bear and some venison he left out last night. He tried to move out of the way but the tightening string on his sleeping bag would not come loose so he was stuck in it. The bear scooped up and tossed him to the side. The bear is about to finish him off when he hears something. He turns around to a direct spray in the face from a skunk. The skunk comes by very often and threats to spray Brian so that Brian will toss her a piece of meat. He then named her Betty. With Brian low on meat he goes hunting and succeeds in getting a moose which he had a one on one scenario but he was Brian was safe at the end. Brian then realizes that he will be stuck here for a long time so he tries to make living in winter easier so he makes some snow shoes that prove to work. Brian looks near the lake and finds some Human footprints. Following those footprints he finds that just a few hundred meters from him a Native-American family is living there. They get supplies from an airplane that comes there every month. Brian gets to spend a month with them and he ends up really enjoying their company. When the month was over the plane came and took Brian with them to head back home to meet his family and friends.

MY THOUGHT

I chose this book because I am interested in survival type of stories and I thought that Hatchet was an amazing action book and I wanted to see how much better can this story get and it did get better. I think this book was really informative about the survival subject. It talked about how hunting and surviving didn’t only take skill but a good positive thinking and that is true. In the beginning I found it hard to pay attention to the book because there was only one character, but in the end Gary Paulsen introduced a lot of details keeping me glued to my story.  One other thing I liked about this book is being focused on just one idea, which kept me from getting lost in so many details and small stories inside the story. I recommend this to people interested in survival and action stories.

                                                      CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

This book was not written in a Christian perspective. But throughout this book Brian shows Christ-like behaviour even though he is the only character. Some ways he does that is not by swearing or cursing. Some ways Gary Paulsen could have made Brian more of a religious character is if he would talk about Brian praying to God for help and just talking to him. But this also depends on the author’s faith so Gary Paulsen may not be a Christian making that a reason why this book is not written from a Christian perspective. In the end Brian finally gets to talk with other humans who were Native Americans and after spending three weeks with them he feels as if he is part of the family and he doesn’t want to leave. Another way this reflects Christ-like behaviour is that Brian is acceptance of others and doesn’t judge.

Luke Book Review: Hunger Games

Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Place & year of Publication: New York, 2008

Number of Pages: 374

Where you found the Book: My Sister

Story Review

The reason that this book is called the Hunger Games is because in the book there is a contest to the death and the contest is called “The Hunger Games” The main Characters in this book are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. This book is set in District 12 And the Capital. This book is set in the future with elements of the past. The main problem in this book is that Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are chosen to go to the Hunger Games, and only one person can win in the Hunger Games. This book starts out in District 12, where Katniss lives. Life there is horrible for everyone, and annually, they choose two people form each of the 12 districts to go to the Hunger Games. The two people form district 12 for the 74^th annual Hunger Games, are Peeta and Katniss. They go to the Capitol and stay there for a while, and eventually, the Games start. The theme in “The Hunger Games” is who has the power. In this book, everyone is controlled by the Capitol. That’s why the Capitol made the Hunger Games. To show that they can do anything to anyone, even take their children away and put them in a battle to the death.

Christian Perspective

The problem with this book is that all it’s about is killing. Because of that, it is a very violent book. This book would not be appropriate for younger readers, because of the gruesome, descriptive violence. There are a lot of times where Katniss could have prayed to God and asked him what to do. Also, that is sort of what life would be like without God, in the future.

My Thoughts

The reason that I chose this book is because almost 20 people recommended it to me. They were all telling me to read it, so I did. It is a great book! I would recommend it to anyone who is allowed to read it. One of the things that I liked about it is how intense it is. It is very gripping and entertaining. It’s so dramatic and violent. I would recommend it to anyone who is allowed to read it. It is just amazing.

HOPE!!!!!!!!!!

Hope is the most important component of surviving alone because without it you will think you will never get rescued so you won’t try to find food and water and you will probably die. If you have hope though you will have the strength and perseverance to find food and water and find shelter. In the movie “Cast Away”, Chuck was always thinking of ways to get food or build or improve his shelter, but if he had no hope he would have thought after four years he would never be rescued. Chuck also used a ball as a friend so he would not lose hope feel like and somebody was always going to be there with him. If Chuck didn’t have hope he wouldn’t have built that raft he probably would have killed himself and not thought of any ways to get off that island.

Hope

Hope is what you have when everything else is gone, hope is what drives your to do better. Hope is an act of looking forward to with a desire and reasonable confidence. I was reading a story one time and it was about a lady who was in so much pain that she just gave up and people would always tell her to put her hope in God But she was in so much pain she just could not do it. On time she decided to read her Bible and she turns to Isaiah 40:31 '' but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.'' From that day on she never been the same. In the hatchet Bryan remembered that his teacher was talking about not giving up and that gave him hope to not give up.

Food and Water

When surviving, two thought cross your mind,
surviving and being rescued but how would you survive without food and water?
Having a good supply of food and water is like the trunk of a tree, it branches
off to many other important things. When you have food and water, you now have
saved time instead of wasting time searching for food, with that out of your
way you now have more time to spend on making and improving your shelter and
rescue signal. A good supply of food and water gives you hope of living. With
that hope you won’t be panicking as much. If you were stuck on Island there 3
main things that you need to accomplish such as finding food, making a shelter,
and a rescue signal. But with a good supply of food and water you now have 1
less thing to worry about. In the hatchet Brian has many things to accomplish
such as finding food, shelter, and making a rescue signal. The book mentions
Brian spending hours trying to find food so he wasted time on improving shelter
and rescue signal. Without food and water you won’t last long. Food and water
give you hope of living and being rescued

Luke's Convincing Paragraph

What is the most important thing that you need to survive alone? Is it water? Food? Strength? Knowing how to swim and what to eat? No! All of these things are very helpful, but the most important aspect of survivng alone is a will to live. You could have all the knowledge in the world, all the food and water you'll ever need, you could be super strong, but if you don't have a will to live, they become useless. And if there's a man, stranded on an island, doesn't know anything about survival, is very weak, and has no food and water, but has a will to live, he will survive longer than the person who studies island food, knows what to eat and where to find it, can crack open coconuts, and is very strong, but has no will to live. Even peseverance isn't as helpful as a will to live. Because if you have peseverance, but no will to survive, you will pesevere at suicide. In Gary Paulson's "Hatchet", Brian almost kills himself because he thinks he has no will to live. He realises he does though, and this saves his life. Because if you have water and absolutely no will to survive, you'll just drown yourself. Because if you don't want to live, you're probably not going to live. So, if you're on an island, stranded, alone, the one thing you need to survive, the thing you need the most, is a will to survive.

Demiana's Paragraph on The Most Important Component of Surviving Alone

One may be stranded on an island perhaps with water, food, or even fire, but can be missing one thing that allows a human to stay alive for the longest time he can in surviving alone, sanity! With sanity, a person has control over his actions and resources. Without sanity, a person is actually safer in a place with fewer resources, as he will have fewer ways to hurt himself. For example, if you’re stranded in a desert with absolutely no resources and no sanity, it will be harder to hurt yourself than in a place where you have more resources that you can use in the wrong way without sanity. Therefore with sanity you will not risk your life for things that are worthless. In the movie Cast Away, Chuck spent 4 years alone on an island in the middle of no where. He found remains from what was in the plane, including a volleyball. He was so lonely and became so insane to the point that he developed feelings for it and a relationship with it! Chuck almost drowned himself to get his volleyball “friend” back. He had water, but could have died using it for a ridiculous and worthless reason without realizing it! Sanity will give you time to reflect before you act, less chance to feel depression, and you will be aware enough to regain your hope and your will of life, finding a reason to live! In the book Hatchet, Brian is stranded alone in the Northern Canadian Wilderness. In less than 54 days, he actually tried committing suicide using his hatchet from what has happened to him and his many failures in making tools for survival. He felt useless and used his tool of living to kill himself. Also, he lost his hope because of insanity and his fast horrible reaction to it. Sanity is very hard to keep in times like this, which is why so many people don’t make it!

Luke's book review

Title: North

Author: Donna Jo Napoli

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Place and Year of Publication: New York, NY, 2004

Number of Pages: 354

Where you Found this Book: a Librarian

 Story Review

This book is called north. the reason that it is called North is because the main character, Alvin, goes on an adventure to the North to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the North Pole explorer, Matthew Henson. This book starts out in Washington, D.C., 2003, where Alvin lives. His Mom is always babying him though, so he runs away, planning to go to the North Pole. He gets on a train and starts traveling, then he meets a girl named Hardette and they travel together. eventually they part and Alvin gets to Churchill. people find out that he ran away and try and get him to go back home. Then Alvin runs away. Again. he manages to get to Pond Inlet, a very cold place and meets Idlouk Tana and they have lots of adventures together.the Theme in this book is survival.

Christian Perspective

This book is not written in a christian perspective. It involves drugs and a bit of swearing. and the reason that this whole adventure starts is because Alvin runs away from home, stows away, and steals someones shoes. He should have asked God what to do before he ran away, he could have prayed to God to help him multiple times.

My Thoughts About This Book

The reason that I chose this book is because the librarian recommended it to me. This book is okay, but I didn't like it very much because i don't like survival realistic-fiction type books.They don't have enough action for me. I would recommend this book to anyone who like "The Hatchet" by Gary Paulson, because these books are similar.