book report

Author Last, First Name. Title of the book. Place of Publication. Company: Date.

Paulsen, Gary. The River. New York, NY. Dell Laurel-Leaf: November 2004.

Reason, Type and Setting: I really like Gary Paulsen and I really like survival books. I really liked reading Hatchet, brians winter, and soldiers heart. But i was eager to get back in to the story of Brian Robeson after reading the book for my war documentary. This book is similar to hatchet but many variables have changed. He is in a different place with lots of wilderness. It is still a survival story.

Plot: Basically there is a boy named Brian Robeson. He is pretty much a survival expert now. He gets offered a job to teach a guy how to do the same survival things he did when he had been stranded on the lake. Only now he is only supplied with a small knife, also he has the task of looking out for someone else. This becomes extremely burdoning when in a storm the man is put in a coma from a falling tree branch. This forces Brian to build a raft and travel down the river until he finds help.

Character: Brian Robeson. He is a now a 17 year old boy. I really don't know what he looks like. I know that in the start of Hatchet he was slightly chubby. But by the end of that book he had become very lean and mean, so i guess that is what he looks like now. He is a very determined person. He is dedicated to survival. He is pretty much the only character because the other guy is in it for a little bit, but for the majority of the book he is just in a coma. So I chose him pretty much because he is the only character. He is very interesting because he is in such a crazy situation that would be so hard to survive in. This situation turned out to be much different than the one before at the lake. But like always Brian handles it very well and gets out in the end with both of them still alive.

Evaluation:

I definitely liked the novel. It was very interesting and entertaining. This story taught me a lot about surviving on the water. Before he had been surviving with a shelter to go home to every night. Now he is living on a raft. He had to make his fires on the raft, he had to survive rapids, he had to fish in a moving raft. So it definitely taught me a lot of new things about survival.

This book is real life. It reminds me that some people in the world today actually have to live like this. Live in caves. Hunt for food. Make your own raft from trees and vines. Make tools themselves. Most people in this situation aren't even lucky enough to have a knife like brian does. It is important to read. You appreciate the life that you live more after reading this book.

I think that I would have done everything the same. It would have been very hard, but I would have done the work necessary to survive. I also would have taken on the challenge of keeping the other guy alive. Even though it would suck its just one of those moral things. Like you do it because you know that if it were the other way that guy would do the same for you. I have actually always thought that it would be really cool to be in a situation like this. But I definitely wouldnt enjoy having to take care of someone in a coma. I would not enjoy that.

Author, Context and Trivia:

Gary Paulsen writes a lot of survival books. I have read two about Brian Robeson being a survivor from a plane crash in Canada and another about a boy who fights in the civil war. All of these stories were really good. This book is similar but very different. But I would definetley say that they were all very good. I would definitely read this author again, he is becoming one of my new favorites. If I find anymore in this series i will read them.