Aubrey Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 What age is it appropriate for? Is it any good? What about the sequel, The River? Dh really liked Paulsen when he took a young adult lit class in college, but the summary on the back of the book has always looked too old for my kids. The premise, though, is interesting to me, esp of the 2nd one. And if it's not too graphic, I think it would be up ds's alley. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Teacher did a read aloud to my class in 5th grade. I loved it! I could have heard it early. Spoilers...... There is death and some gross things. I will spoil the gross part if you want. Some younger kids may be freaked. I know my 5 year old would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 My son read it at 8 and loved it. He was a precocious reader and did ok with more mature topics though. I'd say target ages maybe 10-14 year old boys. It is a bit graphic and gruesome in places and I'd say it might not be great for the sensitive child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 Teacher did a read aloud to my class in 5th grade. I loved it! I could have heard it early. Spoilers...... There is death and some gross things. I will spoil the gross part if you want. Some younger kids may be freaked. I know my 5 year old would. Yes, please tell me. I just found an amazon review that mentioned a suicide attempt and parental infidelity. Eek! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 I think it would be fine for your ds. I don't remember anything gross, and the death isn't anything graphic. I think ds was 10 when he read it. He loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 My son read it at 8 and loved it. He was a precocious reader and did ok with more mature topics though. I'd say target ages maybe 10-14 year old boys. It is a bit graphic and gruesome in places and I'd say it might not be great for the sensitive child. Ds has always been very, very sensitive, but he seems to be maturing to a point that he can handle more difficult topics. He'll be 11 next month. I'd say I pre-read more to give him a heads-up now than to filter what he reads, but...there's still some filtering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 My dd10 read it and loved it. The only one of the sequels she didn't like was Brian's Hunt. The parents are divorced which sets up why the boy is flying alone. My ds read it at about the same age - it was assigned in his school. I've never read it, but neither complained about content. By comparison, she thought Treasure Island was more gruesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennsmile Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 5th grade is when I remember reading it in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 The parental infidelity is barely mentioned, and your ds may not even notice it. IIRC, it says something like "That summer" when his mom kissed someone else. That's pretty much it. The death of the pilot is mentioned, but not described in gory detail. Unless your ds is super sensitive, I think he would be fine. You could always pre-read it, It's very short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 The parental infidelity is barely mentioned, and your ds may not even notice it. IIRC, it says something like "That summer" when his mom kissed someone else. That's pretty much it. The death of the pilot is mentioned, but not described in gory detail. Unless your ds is super sensitive, I think he would be fine. You could always pre-read it, It's very short. I was planning to pre-read it, since it's questionable, but I wanted to put it on the nook, so I wanted to see if it was likely to be worth it (now) or not. If not, I'd just as soon wait because *eventually* I'd like the kids to have a kindle. I know in some places there's this thing called a library. Practically speaking, we don't have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristyB in TN Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Both of my boys were 9 or 10 when they read it. My oldest loved it but his brother did not. The one who loved it also loved My Side of the Mountain and the sequels. I didn't read any of them, sorry. I don't remember either of the boys having any problems with any of the content and they were both pretty sensitive to harsh content. I think it was a good book for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 We began listening to it in August when we drove to MO to pick up Jed. We turned it off after a bit. There was some questionable content that we weren't comfortable with the boys hearing (especially the younger ones) and the writing style was annoying (maybe the reader just made it annoying). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 What age is it appropriate for? Is it any good? What about the sequel, The River? Dh really liked Paulsen when he took a young adult lit class in college, but the summary on the back of the book has always looked too old for my kids. The premise, though, is interesting to me, esp of the 2nd one. And if it's not too graphic, I think it would be up ds's alley. :bigear: These are my 9 year old's absolute favorite books. He loves Hatchet. LOVES. Did I say love? :D He read Hatchet for the first time when he was 8, then listened to the (wonderful) audio book, then read it again. Then he read The River a few months ago. We all listened to the audio together as a family, and adored it. Perfect for my adventure-loving, wilderness/outdoorsy/survival-type story loving son :). ETA: He also enjoyed My Side of the Mountain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 The plane goes down in a small lake. At one point he must dive in and go looking for supplies in the plan. He sees the pilot and notices the fish have been nibbling him. He has been eating the fish. I LOVED this part at 10th Haha but youngers might not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 These are my 9 year old's absolute favorite books. He loves Hatchet. LOVES. Did I say love? :D He read Hatchet for the first time when he was 8, then listened to the (wonderful) audio book, then read it again. Then he read The River a few months ago. We all listened to the audio together as a family, and adored it. Perfect for my adventure-loving, wilderness/outdoorsy/survival-type story loving son :). ETA: He also enjoyed My Side of the Mountain. Ds loved MSM. Survival stories make me want to poke my eyes out, though, so I DREAD pre-reading it. More than I dread wasting $6 on a book they can't read right now! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 The plane goes down in a small lake. At one point he must dive in and go looking for supplies in the plan. He sees the pilot and notices the fish have been nibbling him. He has been eating the fish. I LOVED this part at 10th Haha but youngers might not. Oh, ick! I wouldn't skip the book for that, but as a mama & a girl? ICK! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 We listened to the audio book read aloud by Peter Coyote. Oh goodness, what a great story, and a wonderful storyteller! We were all spellbound. Couldn't wait to get in the van for a trip! The boys were 10 and 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 These are my 9 year old's absolute favorite books. He loves Hatchet. LOVES. Did I say love? :D He read Hatchet for the first time when he was 8, then listened to the (wonderful) audio book, then read it again. Then he read The River a few months ago. We all listened to the audio together as a family, and adored it. Perfect for my adventure-loving, wilderness/outdoorsy/survival-type story loving son :). ETA: He also enjoyed My Side of the Mountain. Same reaction here! My adventure-story boy has read several more of the sequels, but I pre-read the "Brian's Hunt" and said No Way. No. Way. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakeside Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 The parental infidelity is barely mentioned, and your ds may not even notice it. IIRC, it says something like "That summer" when his mom kissed someone else. Although the specifics of what happened weren't mentioned frequently, the boy was quite troubled by the incident because he saw it take place. I would suggest reading it to see what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grover Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 My then 4 y.o. read it and enjoyed it as an adventure story (and spent a lot of time outside 'surviving in the wilderness' afterwards). He didn't notice the 'adult' parts and when he read the part about the pilot and the fish he came to me and said, "that makes me feel funny in my tummy" - we talked about why (and about how one might feel eating an animal that had already eaten another animal - he decided he'd prefer to stick to herbivores). He's not a kid who is readily frightened or disturbed by these things though - he did comment when we flew on a plane later that year that he hoped he wouldn't have to survive in the wilderness if we crashed. I suspect when he reads it again in 5 years there'll be a lot in it that he missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) This was one of my 13yo ds's favorite books and one of few that he read more than once. He was 10 the first time he read it. ETA: I think it would be fine unless your ds is overly sensitive. Edited December 10, 2011 by MamaT Didn't answer your question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHowell Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 K read it a couple months ago. It is a battle book for 4-6 graders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 K read it a couple months ago. It is a battle book for 4-6 graders. Battle book? :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 We read Hatchet aloud a few months ago. We all really liked it. I don't think it's overly graphic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHowell Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Battle book? :confused: Sorry about the confusion! The public schools here do a sort of "book wars" and her academy participates. The kids have a list of twenty books each year to read and at the end of the year each school sends 3 kids to the book battle (kind of like a game show) and they answer questions about the books. Winning school gets a big party on the last day of school. Its a great incentive for kids who wouldn't normally read a lot. K has almost finished the 20, except for the ones they are reading in class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I read most of this book while waiting for my kids at the library. I don't think I could recommend it for my children to read. I absolutely loathe books that are written in that choppy, repetitive sentence fragment sort of way. Why are so many of them written this way nowadays? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 What age is it appropriate for? ...I think it would be up ds's alley. :bigear: It was excellent, and my ds enjoyed reading it on his own in 5th grade. He actually loved the story and could have handled reading it much earlier, but I chose to edit out the infidelity parts by reading it out loud the first go-round. The next books are fine for a 4th grader to read alone, iirc. I was annoyed by the infidelity parts in the first book because they are not necessary to the plot lines and too old for many readers. The boy sees his mother being unfaithful with another man (kissing him in a car). I just that that was un-called for and tainted an otherwise great read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 ... I pre-read the "Brian's Hunt" and said No Way. No. Way. :tongue_smilie: I didn't read that one. (Neither did ds, I think.) What happened in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Both of my boys read it when they were 9. Hatchet and Holes were their two favorite books at that age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Both of my boys read it when they were 9. Hatchet and Holes were their two favorite books at that age. Ah yes! Holes was another big hit around here :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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