The River
"We want you to do it again."
These words, spoken to Brian Robeson, will change his life. Two years earlier, Brian was stranded alone in the wilderness for fifty-four days with nothing but a small hatchet. Yet he survived. Now the government wants him to do it again to go back into the wilderness so that astronauts and the military can learn the survival techniques that kept Brian alive.
This time he won't be alone: Derek Holtzer, a government psychologist, will accompany him to observe and take notes. But during a freak storm, Derek is hit by lightning and falls into a coma. Their radio transmitter is dead. Brian is afraid that Derek will die of dehydration unless he can get him to a doctor. His only hope is to build a raft and try to transport Derek a hundred miles down the river to a trading post if the map he has is accurate.
Flicker Tale Children's Book Award (1995)
About the Brian's Saga Series
Books in series order
- 1.Hatchet(1987)
- 2.The River(1991)
- 3.Brian's Winter(1996)
- 4.Brian's Return(1999)
- 5.Brian's Hunt(2003)
- +Guts: The True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian Books(2001)
Reading age: 11+ years
This series should be read in order.
Brian Robeson, sole passenger on a Cessna 406, is on his way to visit his father when the tiny bush plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. With nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present, Brian finds himself completely alone.
Challenged by his fear and despair – and plagued with the weight of a dreadful secret he's been keeping since his parent's divorce – Brian must tame his inner demons in order to survive. It will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed.