Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen
Bibliography:
Paulsen, G. Brian's Winter. Delacorte Press. (1996).
Summary:
In response to his reader's questions about Brian's potential for survival in the harsh Canadian winter, Gary Paulsen gives us Brian's Winter. Assuming that he had never made contact with the outside world and, therefore, remains un-rescued, Brian must learn to adapt to the cold in an effort to survive seemingly impossible situations. Awakening one morning with an abrupt awareness of the season's change, Brian realizes that he is sorely unprepared for the cold weather and its hardships. By watching the animals' preparations for winter survival, Brian learns what he must do to stay warm, protected, and fed. He winterizes his shelter by watching how beavers use mud to insulate, and notes how rabbits grow bigger feet to walk on top of the snow, resulting in Brian's homemade snowshoes. Brian channels his previous knowledge about Native Americans to bring his fire inside the shelter and to create arrows with arrowheads sharp enough to kill large game. These discoveries happen always in the nick of time, as Brian is time and time again pitted against nature in the form of weather and beasts, forcing him to rely on what he has made to protect him, feed him, and shelter him from the elements. At the end of th story, Brian has become so at home in his untouched wilderness that it is almost bittersweet when he is rescued.
Paulsen cleverly moves the plot forward as events build on each other, starting with simple survival needs and growing to greater crises- attacking bears, angry moose, and rain and snow that threaten Brian with hypothermia. Paulsen knows how to dangle the bait in the nose of the reader, providing sneaky foreshadowing at the closing of chapters and making it impossible to put the book down out of need to know what will happen. While the hero is a boy and the subject matter appeals to the male appetite for adventure, readers of all ages, backgrounds, and gender will appreciate and admire Brian's story of survival and common sense.
Thoughts:
I loved Paulsen's Hatchet, so I was excited to see how he could make Brian, seasoned as he was, survive the harsh winter without making him seem superhuman. I was unable to put the book down, driven by teasing foreshadow at the end of chapters that let me know adventure or crisis was coming. I was also touched and taken aback by such beautiful description of the untouched, pure landscape that was, by all practical purposes, trying its best to defeat Brian's survival attempts. Brian, through only 13, was able to see the landscape for the beauty that it was, in spite of the hardships he suffered because of it.
Paulsen also managed to keep Brian human, keep him 13. He did not survive out of natural instinct, but out of practical problem-solving and recollection of past knowledge. Brian was not presented as a man of the wild or natural survivor, but as a logical, critically-thinking boy who was willing to work to survive. Solutions did not fall into his lap, but he had to persevere through lack of sleep, hunger, and cold to make the preparations necessary for survival. Brian's occasional failure makes the story even more believable. He does not kill the bear, and does not shoot the moose successfully, killing it only by chance. Not every shot taken results in meat, and he learns through trial and error how to use animal skins for clothing. If these failures had not occurred, Paulsen would have run the risk of making the hero too "heroic" and unrelateable. As it is, Brian's Winter leaves the reader wondering if he or she were in the same situation, would they be able to survive as Brian did? This book almost makes the reader want to find out.
Reviews:
"First there was Hatchet, Paulsen's classic tale of a boy's survival in the north woods after a plane crash.... Now Paulsen backs up and asks readers to imagine that Brian, the hero, hadn't been rescued after all. His many fans will be only too glad to comply, revisiting Brian at the onset of a punishing Canadian winter. The pace never relents- the story begins, as it were, in the middle, with Brian already toughened up and his reflexes primed for crisis. Paulsen serves up one cliffhanger after another (a marauding bear, a charging elk), and always there are the supreme challenges of obtaining food and protection against the cold. Authoritative narration makes it easy for readers to join Brian vicariously as he wields his hatchet to whittle arrows and arrowheads and a lance, hunts game, and devises clothes out of animal skins.... The moral of the story: it pays to write your favorite author and ask for another helping." - Publisher's Weekly
"At the conclusion of Hatchet (Macmillan, 1987), Brian Robeson is rescued after surviving a plane crash and summer alone in the north Canadian woods. Now, in this second sequel, Paulsen shows what would have happened if the 13 year-old boy had been forced to endure the harsh winter. For a brief time, Brian lives in relative luxury, living off the contents of the recently recovered survival pack, which included a gun for hunting.... Suddenly aware of the changing seasons, he works frantically to winterize his shelter, fashion warmer clothes from animal skins, and construct a more powerful bow and arrow.... The same formula that worked before is successful here: the driving pace of the narration, the breathtaking descriptions of nature, and the boy who triumphs on the merits of efficient problem solving. The author's ability to cast a spell, mesmerize his audience, and provide a clinic in winter survival is reason enough to buy this novel. " - School Library Journal
Ideas for Use:
Especially appealing to boys (though equally appreciated by girls), Brian's Winter is a wonderful lead-in to a lesson or unit on the wilderness. Students can look at pictures of untouched wilderness in the winter, and identify potential problems and solutions to those problems. Older children would enjoy looking at and attempting to make arrowheads (molding out of clay would be a safer alternative to using actual rock), or hearing from a speaker that is an expert in Native American artifacts and hunting strategies.
Younger readers can attempt to make "winter" clothing such as Brian's, using paper sacks, yarn, and sticks as needles for sewing. Cut out holes or sleeves for arms, crumple and smooth the paper sack as Brian had to do for the rabbit skins. When pieces are cut out, the students may use the sticks and yarn as Brian used the hide and bones to "sew" hides together to make winter clothing. Talk about the pros and cons of this type of clothing- does it work to cover up the wearer? Is it warm enough? Was it easy to make or hard? Was it worth the trouble? Think of other ways Brian could have used the animal skins to stay warm.
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