Gary Paulsen: Hatchet and its sequels

One of the most interesting moments happens for an artist when your creation gets rid of your control and gains its own life and the will of living for itself.This seems to happen on Brian Roderson, the main character of Gary Paulsen’s young-adult novel Hatchet. According to Gary Paulsen, many readers of the novel thought Brian was a person who really existed. They wrote letters to him and wanted to know more about him.Gary Paulsen even received a call from the National Geographic asking for Brian’s address in the hope of getting a story about his survival in the wilderness. For this reason, Gary Paulsen had to write sequels ofHatchet, more andmore stories about Brian Roderson. After Hatchet, there were River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return and Brian’s Hunt. The Chinese translations of these books were published in China and available forpurchase online. Isabelle and I read the first three books, among which, my favorite one was Hatchet and Isabelle’s favorite was Brian’s Winter. We made reading reports on our own favorite ones. I learned a lot from Brian and shared feelings with him. For me, he was just like a friend who was close to my heart. Gary Paulsen has become one of my favorite authors now. I guess there were a lonesome boy who loved physical adventures inside of me.

对于一个艺术家来说，最有意思的莫过于你创造的角色脱离你的控制，有了自己的生命以及必须活下去的意志。这就是发生在盖瑞柏森的小说《手斧男孩》人物布莱恩罗德逊身上的事。盖瑞在一本书的后序中提到：很多读者认为布莱恩是真实存在的人，写信给他，想听更多关于他的故事。连《国家地理》杂志也打电话给盖瑞，向他要布莱恩的住址，因为他们想做一个关于他的故事。于是，盖瑞不得不续写布莱恩的故事。于是，在《手斧男孩》之后，又有了《冒险河》、《一个人的冬天》、《寻找鹿精灵》与《猎杀布莱恩》。这些故事的中译本在中国出版了，可以在网上买到。我和伊萨读了前三本，其中我最喜欢《手斧男孩》，伊萨最喜欢《一个人的冬天》（直译是《布莱恩的冬天》）。我俩各自就自己最喜欢的一本写了读书笔记。我从布莱恩身上学到很多，也有很多共鸣。对我来说，他就像是个很贴近心灵的朋友。现在盖瑞柏森成了我最喜欢的作家之一。我猜我的身体里有一个热爱冒险的孤独的男孩。

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Gary Paulsen: Hatchet

By Xiucai

In Hatchet, Brian, a 13-year-old boy, was thrown into wild forest in a helicopter crash, but found ways to survive in the complete wilderness all alone until he was rescued by another helicopter.

I would like to argue that Brian is a person of talent in reading. The action of reading itself doesn’t need talent, but the ability of extracting knowledge and understanding from what you read is a talent, no matter what you read is books, people, thenature, or the environment that surrounds you. What Brian has talent in reading is the nature. In his reading of the nature, Brian figured out how to make fire, invent tools, catch fish and hunt. Not everyone can achieve those capability when left all alone in the wilderness, but Brian did it. Then, what did Brian do right in his reading of the nature?

Let’s review the part of the story that Brian made fire and see how he achieved it. At first, Brian sees sparks when he throws his hatchet to a porcupine that invades his cave shelter, but the hatchet hits the stone of the cave wall instead. Only later, an insight comes to him that the sparks are a sign of fire. The collision of the hatchet and stone should produce fire, since it produces sparks. Catching a sign is the first and foremost step to a talented reading. In his thirst for fire, Brian is able to catch the sign of fire. When you desire for something hard and focus yourself on it, you become sensitive to things related to it and may find your route to it. In Brian’s case, the heat of the morning sunlight leads to his dreaming of his friend Terry’s fire pit. Taking a clue from the dream, Brian focuses himself on looking for tracks of fire. In his focused thinking, the reflection of sunlight upon the hatchet and the recalling of the sparks makes him realize the connection between the hatchet and fire. Brian makes a leap from small signs to a bold theory in his strong desire for fire.

After that, Brian made many experiments to testify his theory that one can produce fire by striking the metal of the hatchet against a certain stone on the cave wall. He improved the kindling environment by making the most flammable materials, the tinder birch skin, to catch the spark. He also recalled his prior knowledge about the elements of a fire and added the step of blowing air into the spark nest. After many experiments and improvements, the sparks turned to a flame and he finally succeeded in making a fire. The scene of getting a fire successfully in the book is very heartwarming:

      I have a friend, he thought--I have a friend now. A hungry friend, but a good one. I have a friend named fire.

        “Hello,fire…”

When you watch for signs and questions, reading is not just reading, it’s understanding,connecting and gaining. You may gain some knowledge, like what makes a fire, ora skill, like how to make a fire, from your reading. Or sometimes just a gain of feeling, like a feeling that you have a friend, from reading. Reading becomes meaningful when you gain something from it. To have a meaningful reading, it asks for your focused attention, keen observation, calm reflection and appropriate connection of current situation with certain prior knowledge and experience.

Meaningful reading also asks for thinking in your own way, developing your own theory.Brian did just that when he learned to hunt for foolbirds. At first, he had a big problem of not being able to see the still bird amidst the woods whilehunting. He reflected on this problem and made attentive observation of the birds until he discovered “the secret key”:

        But this time, when the bird fly, something caught his eye and it was the secret key.The bird cut down toward the lake, then, seeing it couldn’t land in the water, turned and flew back the hill into the trees. When it turned, curving through the trees,the sun had caught it, and Brian, for an instant, saw it as a shape; sharp-pointed in front, back from the head in a streamlined bullet shape to the fat body.

        Kind of like a pear, he had thought, with a point on one end and a fat little body; a flying pear.

For that moment, Brian learned to tell the bird by its outline, rather than by its feathers or color. Further, he settled down the shape of the bird in his own way: it’s like a flying pear. By grasping the form of the bird, Brian was able to find birds even when they were quietly hiding in the woods and caught them successfully after several trials. Brian’s hunting lesson tells that something becomes easier for you when you develop your own understanding, or theory, of it.Then you control the target material and conjure it in a way for your own need ratherthan merely being led/misled by it.

Isabelle,when you read books or observe the world, have you applied into it those reading techniques that I discussed? Have you sensed signs, asked questions, made appropriate connections, conjured your own theory, and tested it with more evidences or experiments? Have you gained something that is more lasting from your reading besides the joy of riding the flow of how it goes?

I’m glad you can enjoy reading when you are only eight. I hope someday you can turn your hobby of reading to capabilities in understanding and gaining knowledge,and show talent in reading in a true sense. 

盖瑞柏森:《手斧男孩》

秀才作

《手斧男孩》里，13岁男孩布莱恩在一次飞机事故中被抛进了渺无人烟的森林，然后在荒野中学会了独自生存，直到被另一架飞机解救。

我想跟你说的是，布莱恩有阅读的天赋。阅读的动作本身不需要天赋，但是，从你所读的东西里汲取知识与理解的能力就是一种天赋，不管你所读的是书，是人，是自然， 还是你周边的环境。布莱恩善于读的是大自然。通过阅读大自然，布莱恩明白了怎么生火、创造工具、抓鱼和打猎。不是每一个被独自扔到野外的人能够获取这些能力，但是布莱恩做到了。在阅读大自然的时候，他做对了什么呢？

我们回顾一下布莱恩生火的那部分故事，看看他是怎么做到的。起先，当布莱恩把他的手斧扔向入侵他藏身洞穴的野猪而手斧却撞在洞墙石头上的时候，他看到了火星。只是到后来，他才产生一个直觉:火星是火的征兆。手斧与石头的撞击能产生火，既然它们产生了火星。捕捉征兆是富有天赋的阅读的首要一步。由于对火的渴求，布莱恩捕捉到了火的征兆。当你强烈想要一种东西，并把你的注意力集中在上面，你就会对与它相关的事物变得敏感，会找到通向它的渡径。就布莱恩来说，早晨太阳光的热度让他梦到了他的朋友泰瑞的火堆。受梦的引导，布莱恩集中注意力寻找火的迹象。在凝神中，他看到了太阳光在手斧上的反光，并且回想起了手斧产生的火星，这两者的结合让他意识到了手斧与火的联系。因为对火的渴求，布莱恩完成了从一些细小征兆到一个大胆理论的跨越。

之后，布莱恩做了很多实验来检验他的理论：手斧的金属部分撞击洞墙上的一块石头能产生火。他改善了引火的环境，用撕细的桦树皮制作了最易燃的材料来捕捉火星。他也回想自己之前的关于火的要素的知识，增加了向火星巢吹气的步骤。经过多次试验与改进，火星转成火苗，他终于成功生火。书里成功生火的场景特别暖心。

      我有了一个朋友，他想------我有朋友了。一个饥饿的朋友，但是是一个好的朋友。我有了一个叫做火的朋友。

        “你好，火。”

当你留意征兆，保留疑问，阅读不再仅仅是阅读，它也是理解、联系与获取。从阅读中，你可以获得知识，像什么能生火，可以获得技能，像怎么生火。或许也可以获得一种感受，比如一种拥有朋友的感受。当你从阅读中获得，阅读变得有意义。进行有意义的阅读，需要你集中注意力，细致观察，静心反思，并将从前的经验、知识与当下情形进行恰当联系。

进行有意义的阅读也要求以自己的方式思考，自制理论。布莱恩学习猎杀呆鸟（foolbird）的时候就这样做了。起先，他打猎遇到了一个大麻烦，当鸟儿还静静地呆在林子里的时候，他看不到它们。他反思这个问题，对飞起的呆鸟做了凝神观察直至他发现了“秘密钥匙”：

      但这次，当鸟儿起飞，他注意到了什么，那就是秘密钥匙。鸟儿切向湖面，看到无法在水里着陆，又转向飞回山丘，进入树林。当它调转划过树林时，被阳光笼罩，布莱恩有一瞬把它看成了一个形状：前头尖突，从头部到肥胖身躯之间是流线形的子弹形状。

      像一只梨，他想，一只有尖头与肥胖身躯的梨；飞行的梨。

在那一瞬，布莱恩学会从外形而不是从羽毛与颜色来辨别呆鸟。并且，他用自己的方式定义了呆鸟的形状：一只飞行的梨。在掌握鸟的形状以后，即使鸟儿还在林子里安静的藏身，布莱恩也能找到它们，并且在几次尝试后成功猎杀了呆鸟。布莱恩的打猎课说明，如果你发展出自己的理解，或理论，你所理解的事物对于你变得简单。从而你控制了对象材料，并且将它服务于你的目的，而不再仅仅被它牵引。

伊萨，当你读书、观察世界的时候，你有没有将我讨论的这些阅读方法运用进去？你有没有留意到征兆，提出问题，进行恰当联系，构想自己的理论，并且寻找证据或进行实验来验证它？除了享受完成滑行的乐趣，你有没有从阅读中获取更长久的东西？

我很高兴你现在才八岁就能享受阅读。希望有一天你可以把阅读的爱好转变为理解事物与获取知识的能力，真正展示阅读的天赋。

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Summary: Brian’s Winter

By Isabelle

This story is a sequel to the story, “Hatchet”, if the main character, Brian, hadn’t been rescued by a helicopter in the summer. In this story, Brian encounters fall and winter，got a doe, a bull, a moose, and a buck for eating, andmakes tools and clothing.

Brian is a thirteen-year old boy who got stuck in a Canadian forest in the summer. Therefore, he has to use his wits and his knowledge to survive. First, in the late summer time, he had got a survival pack from the airplane he crashed from, so he made arrowheads, which help him hunt BIG, so he wouldn’t only have to feed fromfish, rabbits, and foolbirds. (Foolbirds are actually ruffed grouses.)

After Brian made the arrowheads, two wolves killed a deer and Brian got the leftovers, which is, pretty much. After the first snowfall in the Canadian forest, Brian killed a cow moose, figured that it was about 600 to 700 pounds (wow!), and had to cut up the moose so that it will be easier to carry back to his “home” (whew!). But it was worth it. The moose actually proved to be a godsend! Meanwhile, he made a rabbit vest, and since it was cold, and if you don’t use the moose skin, it will be wasted, right? So Brian made sleeves out of moose skin. He also made snow boots and gloves. Sometime later, he used his arrowheads to kill a buck. Sooner or later, he meets a bull, and a pack of wolfs killed the bull. Hebrought the bull home.

In that night, Brian hears a sound that were trees booming (or exploding, or being under the pressure of sap). Slowly, the snow begins to melt. Brian still hears booming sounds. Why? It’s too warm to make trees explode. So why are they exploding? Its there actually people living in this wild Canadian forest? Or is Brian going crazy? Find out in Brian’s Winter.

I recommend this book with 5 stars, because it talks about how to survive in a Canadian forest and it’s very funny: Brian does some wierd things that are really funny to me. I hope you enjoy reading Brian’s Winter and Hatchet and like them as much as I did.

概括：《一个人的冬天》（布莱恩的冬天）

伊萨作, 秀才译

这个故事是《手斧男孩》的续篇，假设布莱恩并没有在夏天被一架直升飞机解救。在这个故事里，布莱恩遭遇秋天、冬天，猎获一母鹿、一公牛、一驼鹿和一公鹿作为食物，并且制作了工具与衣服。

布莱恩是一个十三岁的男孩，他在夏天陷在一个加拿大森林里。因此，他必须用自己的智慧与知识生存。

首先，夏天的时候，他从自己摔离的飞机里找到了一个应急袋，于是他做了箭头，这样他可以捕猎大物，不再仅仅吃鱼、兔子和呆鸟（呆鸟实际上是皱领松鸡）。

布莱恩做了箭头后，两只狼杀了一头鹿，布莱恩获得了很多剩肉。加拿大森林的第一场雪后，布莱恩猎杀了一头牛驼鹿，大概有600到700磅中（哇！），并且要把它切成小块，这样可以抗回他的“家”（呦！）。但是，这是值得的。驼鹿后来证明是天赐！同时，他做了兔皮背心，因为很冷，不过你不用驼鹿皮，它就浪费了，是不是？于是他用驼鹿皮做了袖子。他还做了雪地靴和手套。不久之后，他还用箭头杀了一头公鹿。很快，他遇到了一头公牛，而一群狼猎杀了公牛。他把公牛剩肉带回了家。

一天晚上，他听到了响声，像是树在轰鸣（或爆炸，或在被取汁）。慢慢地，雪开始融化。但是布莱恩还是听得见轰鸣声。怎么回事呢？这么暖和的天气树已经不至于爆炸了。那么它们为什么轰鸣呢？是有人住在这个原始的加拿大森林里吗？请看《一个人的冬天》去寻找答案吧。

我推荐这本书并且给5颗星，因为它讨论了怎么在加拿大森林里生存，并且非常有趣：布莱恩做了一些对于我来说非常有趣的奇异的事。

我希望你能够享受阅读《一个人的冬天》与《手斧男孩》，并且像我一样喜欢它们。