Brian's Winter

by Gary Paulsen

Hardcover, 1996

Call number

J FIC PAU

Publication

Delacorte Books for Young Readers (1996), Edition: Feb-96, 144 pages

Description

Instead of being rescued from a plane crash, as in the author's book Hatchet, this story portrays what would have happened to Brian had he been forced to survive a winter in the wilderness with only his survival pack and hatchet.

User reviews

LibraryThing member tenthrune
This is the alternate sequel to Hatchet (the other sequel being The River), which picks up on the pretense that Brian did not get rescued at the end of Hatchet and is forced to face a Canadian winter alone. One thing I like about all the Brian books is that Gary Paulsen did not write a single scene
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for Brian that he had not experienced himself - the plane crash, the bear and moose attacks, the food he eats, the survival skills - everything. That's probably why kids (and adults!) enjoy these books so much: they're believable, and with good reason.
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LibraryThing member dragonslayer203
Probably one of the best books i have ever read, tells a greattale of the winter time when brian was stranded. It feels like its real
LibraryThing member BridgetteHarmon
Like Hatchet, Brian's Winter left me reveling in the wonderful sensation of being fully alive. Paulsen's descriptions of the joy and necessity of eating are particularly powerful - boiled moose meat with chokecherry sauce has never sounded so good.
LibraryThing member laxhslr9599
Simplistic styled book, but a great read... especially for one who loves the taste of an adventure novel that is not the norm for society. Takes place post Hatchet in which Brian struggles to gear up for the winter and has almost become one with the forest and lake that sorounds him. Note: read the
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river as well.
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LibraryThing member hsreader
Brain was living in the wilderness and survived for so long because of the plane crash. Then winter came. Brian found himself freezing. Then he got better hunting materials too. Brian hunted moose, deer, bird, and rabbit, fish. Also he made a friend a skunk. Who saved him from a bear. Brain also
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made clothes put pf rabbit skin, mosse hide/skin and deer. He made a Warbow for big game and light for medium game. He also kept his shelter cozzy and warm. Then after that he traveled and studyed his surrondingss. Brain comes up to tracks which he thinks their wolf tracks. So he follows them and it leaves them to a hut. Then he is finally home.
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LibraryThing member missmath144
Brian Robeson has to make it through the winter after crashing in the Canadian wilderness. I enjoy Paulsen's entire series about Brian because everything is based on real experiences that Paulsen or someone he knows has experienced. I am captivated by the details of describing each step of his
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survival.
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LibraryThing member Vikko2
This book goes after the book of Hatchet, in this one Brian faces his greatest fear... winter! He gets all prepared in the Fall for Winter by getting all his meats, wood and some amazing new gear. He finds that his life had changed forever.
LibraryThing member Book_Shelter
I love Gary Paulsen Books! This book made me want to go out and live off the land. It was amazing to me how Brian figured out the things he did to survive. Truly a great "boy book", however great for all even a 48 year old Mom.
LibraryThing member ykolstad
Adventure lovers will love Brian's Winter. Lots of graphic details regarding survival in the wilderness. I appreciated the appreciation for the beautiful wilderness that the author (Paulsen) gifted his main character with.
LibraryThing member jgbyers
In this sequal to Hatchet, Paulsen writes this book to what if Brian had not been rescued in the summer and was forced to spend an entire winter alone in the wilderness with only his hatchet. Brian quickly learns how to survive. He even is forced to crawl inside an animals carcase to stay warm.
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This book takes adventure and survial to a new level
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LibraryThing member LDB2009
This book is a sequel to "Hatchet," a story about a 13-yr-old boy, Brian Robeson, who must learn to survive alone on the Canadian wilderness. In "Brian's Winter," Paulsen supposes Brian wasn't rescued as he was in the first book. Instead, Brian must now learn to survive the winter in Northern
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Canada. The book is loaded with survival scenarios my fourth-grade students love to discuss. When I finish reading the book to the students, I will also use the book as an inspiration for some creative writing in which they will change the ending of a familiar story.
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LibraryThing member lppeters
To me, I think this book came across as confusion and with having a class of students with special needs, my goal would be to have reading simple and easy. So, because of that, I am not sure if I would introduce this book to my students because it does not necessarily follow up with what they had
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just read in 'Hatchet'. I think that this book may be interesting for advanced readers however.
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LibraryThing member dgadkins88
In this book Brian endures many animals such as a skunk who he becomes very fond of her and names her Betty he also comes to face with wolves, deer, and the most dangerous one of them all a moose which attacked him during his hunt. Brian uses his knowledge of the wilderness to survive. He also uses
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his memories too help design bows, arrows, and even arrowheads. He got used too living in the wilderness so he worked on new hunting techniques. He also learned how too make his shelter more secure by packing the walls with mud making it water tight and nearly air tight.
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LibraryThing member raymondh
It was a very good book for someone who likes a ,leaves you in suspense book.
LibraryThing member mlsweatman
In Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen, he wrote this book like Brian never got rescued from the "Hatchet." So, instead of getting rescued Brian had to survive a winter in the Canadian outdoors. He is forced to make many objects to help him survive and to kill animals like rabbits for food. He had only
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eaten fish that he had caught or rabbit that he had killed during this entire trip.
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LibraryThing member susiesharp
In the prologue Gary Paulsen says he received a lot of letters saying they thought Brian had been rescued too soon and they thought it would be more of a survival story if he had been there all winter too. Paulson said the summer story was necessary to this because if Brian hadn’t learned to live
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in the summer he wouldn’t have made it in the winter.

I love that he ends up with a skunk as his best friend and lifesaver. I liked this one but not as much as Hatchet as it felt a little rushed. I would suggest reading this one second before reading The River I think having read The River with so much about after he is rescued it skewed my thoughts on this one because of all the research he did after he was rescued.

All in all a good book but I enjoyed Hatchet better.

3 ½ Stars
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LibraryThing member cody.parker
This book is about brians winter. Brian this time is in the cold and it is snowing. He is having a hard time puting a fire together but it keeps going out. So he get lots of sticks and finaly makes a fire and lasts him alnight when he sleeps.then the next day he finds a new place to camp and it is
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in a cave so when he is in the cave he looks around. then he goes to sleep that night and there is a bear there and he kills him and then he is happy for the night cause he has some new bear fur to sleep with.last is he makes it threw the winter and is safe until summer. why i like this book is cause it has a good topic to it. The sounds or words he says in the book makes you feel like your there.i also like the book cause it is a cool book to learn from in the winter cause it tells a few ways to stay safe in the winter.also in the book the bear is alive but then brian kills him and makes him into a bed and sleeps with his fur i thought that was funny. i feel so alive when i read gary paulsen's books.last is the book is really good and is the best i read so far. clearly you can see what it is about and why i like it.
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LibraryThing member ZaBu1120
Brians winter was the next book to the book hatchet, it was not close to as good of a book that hatchet was and was a disappointment to me..
LibraryThing member nm.fall07tmckinney
this book was awsome. it was just as good as the first book. there wasent a bad part in the whole book ecpt when it ended. becouse i wanted mor.
LibraryThing member LAteacher
It was easy for me to choose and read this book because in the past i have read alot of other books published by Gary Paulsen for example-the rifle,Brian returns and other series.
LibraryThing member byety
It is a great book he even kills a moose!
LibraryThing member fuzzi
What if?

What if Brian, lost in the northern wilderness in June, was not rescued by the time winter arrived? How could he survive the subzero cold, how could he eat, how could he stay warm?

Author Gary Paulsen has taken the main character of his book Hatchet, and has spun another tale of
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perseverance and determination. As with the other books in this series, the reader is drawn into Brian's world, and kept there by an excellent storyteller. And as before, I did not want to put down Brian's Winter until the conclusion. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member JovanH470Volny
Brian’s winter is a sequel to the book hatchet. Its story picks up right where our main character Brian had left off, still stranded in the middle of the Canadian woods, and with winter closing in on him, he has to further exploit his common knowledge and take to his instincts. His first problem
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is that he must create warmth, a, ore reliable and effective source of warmth. He must go out and discover new sources of warmth. As he struggles with this problem he stumbles across another problem, the difficulty to hunt and the need of a more effective way to hunt. He overcomes this by using the flint shards off a rock, these shard can be used as much sharper arrow heads, giving Brian the opportunity to hunt big game. After he has proven himself defiant of these problems his only difficulty is the thought of continuing to live like this for, maybe even the rest of his life. But that thought is discarded as he discovers another presence living near him in the woods. It turns out to be a family of three, surviving off the wilderness, and receiving supply visits by plane. That was Brian’s ticket out.

Brian’s Winter is an extension of the award winning novel Hatchet. I have read hatchet and it was one of the most stimulating reads I have experienced, and the same feeling came back to me as I read Brian’s Winter. I didn’t expect any less form one of the best, and one of my favorite writers Gary Paulsen. This book was actually a request by many people, as they wanted to see what was in store for Brian as he tries to prove himself triumphant through the perils of winter. A Phenomenal read for all ages and preferences.
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LibraryThing member chengc28
Brian’s Winter is a adventure novel written by Gary Paulsen. It was nominated in 1999 for a YRCA (youth division).

While Brian’s Winter can be read as a standalone novel, it is pretty much is a supplement to Gary Paulsen’s famous, three-time Newberry Award winning novel, Hatchet. The novel
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provides an alternative ending to Hatchet, whereby the protagonist Brian Robeson is not rescued after being stranded for 54 days in the Canadian wilderness, and must learn to survive the harsh Canadian winter. The real strength of the novel is the author’s masterful balance of quick-paced action and detailed descriptions. That being said, Brian’s Winter is an inferior novel compared to the more well-rounded Hatchet, especially in terms of character development. Therefore, I would recommend readers to read Hatchet first, before moving on to Brian’s Winter, for the “full experience”.

Overall, Brian’s Winter is must-read for any fan of Hatchet or adventure/survival fiction. It is a very enjoyable, fast-paced read at only 134 pages.
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LibraryThing member benuathanasia
This took off from the previous book very well; Paulsen has a very even, predictable voice that doesn't waiver much from book to book. I was a bit disappointed with the anti-climactic ending; Brian may as well as fallen into salvation.

Pages

144

ISBN

9780385321983
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