English 9 book report

Hatchet Book Report

By Lucas Van Eps

Brian Robenson has just crash landed into the Canadian wilderness with just a hatchet his mom gave him and whatever he has in his pocket.  He has to be able find food, get drinkable water, and make shelter.  He also must be able to survive the brutal weather and all the animals that live there.  

         It all started when Brian's parents  divorced so he had to go and visit each one every other month.  So he gets on a Cessna 69697 bush plane to fly him into Canada to his parents’ house.  All of a sudden the elderly pilot has a heart attack and dies.  So Brian eventually has to land the plane in a small lake in the Canadian wilderness.  He gets trapped under the plane at first and struggles and eventually gets out and gets up to the surface for air.

         He swims to shore and doesn't know where he is or what to do next.  He is very thirsty so he drinks the lake water.  This makes him sick so he doesn't move for a long time.  He finds an overhanging rock where he decides to make his shelter.  He goes and finds some berries and he is so hungry that he eats way too many of them, and it makes him sick.  He throws up all the berries which makes him hungrier than he was before.  So he goes and looks for more food and finds other berries.

         He uses his hatchet to make a fire.  He finds a special rock and when he strikes the ax head on it, it creates a spark.  He also uses his hatchet to make all his tools and even some weapons, like a bow and a fishing spear.  He is good with these weapons and catches most of his food like fish and rabbits, and they are also a good way of protection.  So Brian not only survives but thrives.

         One night a tornado blows in and destroys his fire and his shelter, but it reveals the tail end of the plane in the lake.  After he fixes his shelter and camp he makes a raft to go check the plane out.  He makes a raft and swims out to it.  He accidentally drops his hatchet into the water once and had to dive down three times to retrieve it.  He cuts his way into it and finds a survival pack with a rifle, a emergency transmitter, and food packs.  He activates the transmitter but thinks it is broken and throws it to the side.  One day while cooking food a man arrives on a float plane that picked up his signal, so he brings Brian home to see his parents again.

         In this exciting fiction book, Gary Paulsen creates a character who has to completely change the way he thinks in order to survive in the wild.  The setting and the plot of the book is believable and it could almost happen to you.  The conflict in this story has to do with his parents.  He is mad and blames this event on his parents divorce, and doesn't forgive them for it.  Through out the book the character changes, in that he thinks before he does and notices things a lot more around him.  The book is so good that it won a Newberry Honor award.  You will like this book if you are into action stories, this book will leave you wondering what will happen next.  Hatchet is a good book for most ages and once you start reading it you won’t want to stop.   

English 9 Story

Rodger’s Great Victory

By Lucas Van Eps

Captain Rodgers stormed into the room, his face burning red.  “Attention men!” he yelled.  The several soldiers in the room shot up from their slouched positions and stood straight as an arrow.  “What are we going to do about Whalen?”, the old desolate room seemed to echo the words.  Nobody knew what to do, they were puzzled.

“He has killed 15 men in 3 days; we need to put a stop to this.”  Captain Rodgers wanted answers, but no one in the room had them.  One tall, lanky kid, named James slowly raised his hand.  “Spit it out, son” Rodgers bellowed.

“Well, I've heard he is camped on the east side of the Holt River, in western Germany, so if we sneak there in the middle of the night maybe we can surprise him,” James exclaimed.  Whalen thought about the plan for a minute, and started to like it.  As long as nobody would give the plan away it sounded like it would work.  So the men discussed the matter for a couple days and eventually decided to do the mission in three days.

So they left the town of Luver, France on September 29, and left the destroyed and deserted town behind.  They took as many weapons and ammunition as they could carry, because they had no idea what they would all need.  It was a six-hour hike to the Holt River, where they stopped and camped for the night.  It was a cold night, so they sat around the fire telling stories and wishing they were with their loved ones.  They set out again in the morning knowing this could be the day they'd been waiting for a long time.

While the men were walking they came over a hill and spotted a small town way off in the distance.  There was one tall building that stood out above the rest; they assumed Whalen would be in this building to have a good view and height advantage.  The oldest member of the group, Corporal Taylor, suggested that they go around to the west side.  On that side there were more trees and better places for hiding.  

They slowly crept around this way, it was now already about three in the afternoon, and they were just reaching the town edge.  They slowly crept through the city; it seemed as if the city had no one living in it.  

All of a sudden a shot rang out of the quietness!  Dust sprayed up about two feet in front of the men.  “Sniper!” Rodgers yelled.  All the men immediately scrambled and found cover in a nearby building.  They were very frightened and decided to stay in that building for the night, and each took their turn keeping watch.

The next morning they sat in their little house wondering what to do.  Private James and Corporal Taylor went out for a walk and got a good look at the tallest tower in the city.  

"That's where Whalen and his men are camped," Taylor whispered.

"Yeah I know.  We should go over there and see if there's a way to sneak in and surprise him" James exclaimed.

So the two men quickly sneaked over to the tall tower and noticed a winding staircase that led up to the very top. The men all of a sudden heard gun shots and loud yelling; the Germans had seen them.

"Run!" Taylor yelled.

They quickly ran back to the house, suprisingly the men had not chased them down. James and Taylor told Captain Rodgers what they had seen and how they thought they should attack him.

In the morning they made their battle plans to take out Whalen and his couple men that he had with him.  They figured he was in the tallest tower of the town, so they had to stay out of view of that tower.  They finally got to the base of the tower, and they started climbing up the stairs very slowly.

When they got to the very top of the stairs and heard quiet German whispers.  The door was open just a small crack, Corporal Taylor looked inside, and sure enough there was General Whalen, surrounded by three other men.  The team went down the stairs a little ways and discussed their plans.  

Captain Rodgers said, "How about we throw a grenade in the room near Whalen, and hopefully it will kill him."  It was a very short plan, but simple, and it seemed like it would work.

They crept back up the stairs and Captain Rodgers pulled a rusted green grenade out of his side pouch.

He said a quick prayer, “Please may this work.”

He brought the grenade up to his chest and gave the pin a quick jerk.  He quickly rolled the grenade into the room and yelled to his men, “Run, find cover!” 

The men quickly rushed down the stairs as fast as they possibly could.  They heard a loud bang and some yells. After the smoke cleared, they went up the stairs to inspect the damage.  Sure enough, Whalen was dead right where he had been standing.  Two other men were also lying on the ground dead.  The fourth one they assumed had managed to get away and jumped out the window.

The men went home that day quite satisfied with themselves.  They had just killed the third most powerful man in the Nazi Army.  They went home to their camp that night safe and sound.  

Later that night while they were sitting around the camp fire Corporal Taylor asked Rodgers, “So what are we doing tomorrow?”

“We’re going for Hitler!” Rodgers joked.