''The River'', also known as ''The Return'' and ''Hatchet: The Return'', is a 1991

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel by

Gary Paulsen Gary James Paulsen (May 17, 1939 – October 13, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming of age, coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote mor ...

. It is the second installment in the ''Hatchet'' series, although '' Brian's Winter'' (1996) kicks off an alternative trilogy of sequels to ''Hatchet'' that disregard ''The River'' from canon. The 1993 reprint includes a note (copied from Paulsen's handwriting) explaining about the survival aspects of ''The River'' that "like all my books it is based on things that happened to me."

Plot

Brian Robeson, a 13-year-old boy who spent 54 days surviving alone in the Canadian wilderness the previous summer, is hired by the government to again live in the woods and surviving only by his wits, so the military can learn his survival techniques. Though reluctant at first, Brian eventually agrees. This time, Brian sets out for a remote Canadian location accompanied by Derek Holtzer, a government

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

. Though the government stipulated the duo take emergency supplies, Brian insists they abandon everything but a knife and an emergency

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, saying that it would be impossible to eat bugs and sleep in the rain when a tent and prepared food is within reach. During their stay, things take a grim turn when their camp is struck by lightning, which knocks Derek into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

and destroys the radio. Knowing that Derek will die of

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

long before anyone finds them, Brian builds a

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrel ...

in a desperate bid to navigate down the unknown river to Brannock's Trading Post, the nearest inhabited point, for emergency aid. The biggest problem is the trading post is 100 miles downriver. Despite rapids, the craft's unwieldiness, exhaustion, and a lack of geographical knowledge, they finally reach the trading post and Derek survives. After the two get back home, Derek buys Brian a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

named ''The Raft'' as a thank you present.

References

# 1991 American novels American young adult novels Novels by Gary Paulsen Novels about survival skills Novels set in Canada {{1990s-ya-novel-stub