Brian's Winter

Brian's Winter
	The River
Followed by	Brian's Return

Brian's Winter is a

young adult novel by Gary Paulsen. It is the third novel in the Hatchet series, but second in terms of chronology as an alternate ending sequel to Hatchet

.

It was also released as Hatchet: Winter by Pan Macmillan on February 9, 1996.

Background

At the end of the novel Hatchet, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, who has been trapped in the Canadian wilderness after a plane accident, decides to dive for a "survival pack" from the submerged aircraft. He almost drowns trying to tear the plane open. He recovers, among other things, an

emergency transmitter. Within hours, a pilot receives the beacon and rescues him. The book ends with a note that Brian, who learned wilderness survival

through trial and error, probably would not have survived the upcoming harsh winter on his own.

Paulsen says that many readers wrote to him, complaining about the deus ex machina ending. In response, Paulsen wrote Brian's Winter, which explores what would have happened if Brian had not activated the transmitter.

Plot summary

The story deals with Brian, still stranded at the L-shaped lake during the fall and winter, constructing a winter shelter, building

trappers

, the Smallhorns, who help him return home.

Continuity with series

Brian's Winter is followed chronologically by the two sequels,

The River does not and includes no mention that the events of Brian's Winter ever took place as Brian tells Derek Holtzer that he only spent fifty-four days in the wilderness. This is because The River was published in 1991,^[1]

five years before the release of Brian's Winter.

References

^ "The River (Brian Robeson, book 2) by Gary Paulsen". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 2022-12-06.

young adult novel of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.

[1] "The River (Brian Robeson, book 2) by Gary Paulsen". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 2022-12-06.

[1]

v t e Works by Gary Paulsen
Bibliography
Brian's saga	Hatchet The River Brian's Winter Brian's Return Brian's Hunt
Murphy series	Murphy Murphy's Gold Murphy's Herd Murphy's War Murphy's Stand Murphy's Ambush Murphy's Trail
Culpepper Adventures	The Case of the Dirty Bird Dunc's Doll Culpepper's Cannon Dunc Gets Tweaked Dunc's Halloween Dunc Breaks the Record
The Tucket Adventures	Mr. Tucket Call Me Francis Tucket Tucket's Ride Tucket's Gold Tucket's Home
World of Adventure	The Legend of Red Horse Cavern Rodomonte's Revenge Escape from Fire Mountain The Rock Jockeys Hook 'Em Snotty! Danger on Midnight River The Gorgon Slayer Captive! Project - A Perfect World The Treasure of El Patron Skydive! The Seventh Crystal The Creature of Black Water Lake Time Benders Grizzly Thunder Valley Curse of the Ruins Flight of the Hawk
Other novels	Dogsong The Winter Room Canyons The Cookcamp Harris and Me Nightjohn The Car The Tent Sarny The Transall Saga Alida's Song Soldier's Heart The White Fox Chronicles The Glass Cafe Woods Runner The Rifle
Non-fiction	Woodsong Winterdance My Life in Dog Years Guts How Angel Peterson Got His Name Gone to the Woods
Film adaptations	A Cry in the Wild Nightjohn Snow Dogs