Hatchet by Gary Paulson

I started Hatchet as my read- aloud in my 6th grade class- room, and I’m not sure if I’ll repeat it again next year. I love this book and I clearly see the value in teaching with it, but I find that the writing style (while brilliant!) doesn’t lend itself to being read aloud as much as read independently. The constant stream of Brian’s thoughts, often so repeatitive in nature, isn’t as comfortable to read out loud. I find myself wondering as I’m reading - would my eyes just skim over these sentences rather than focusing on each word when I have to read it out loud? Do the moments that feel awkward to me as the reader sound awkward to my students as listeners? I knew I would love the rhythm of the writing, and I do - but there’s something too dense about the description to keep the attention and focus of all my students. Perhaps next year I will try a different survival book (A Week in the Woods? I would love to have a Clements read-aloud) for read-aloud and highlight Hatchet in mini-lessons and push it as an independent reading choice.

Plenty of my students are whipping through the rest of the Brian series as I’m reading Hatchet, so that’s definitely a bonus. I should poll those who read Hatchet independently versus those whose only experience is the read-aloud to compare its likeability in both groups.