72 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is onboard a “Cessna 406—a bushplane” (1) to visit his father for the summer. He is lost in thought, thinking about his parents’ divorce and “what he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew—the Secret” (3). The pilot notices Brian observing him and offers to teach him to fly the plane. He assures Brian that flying is much easier than it seems. Brian finds that to be true as he learns the pedals and controls.
Brian thinks about his parents’ divorce and the way his mother tried to talk with him on the drive to the airport. He refused to tell her why he was so upset and reveal his awareness of her affair. He suddenly notices a “constant odor” and looks at the pilot, who is “rubbing the shoulder and down the arm now, the left arm” (7). Brian remembers that he still has his hatchet attached to his belt, the hatchet his mother gave him as a gift just before leaving him at the airport. He is thinking about the hatchet and how odd it is to have one strapped to his belt on a plane when the pilot begins to have a heart attack.
By Gary Paulsen
Brian's Hunt
Brian's Hunt
Gary Paulsen
Brian's Return
Brian's Return
Gary Paulsen
Brian's Winter
Brian's Winter
Gary Paulsen
Canyons
Canyons
Gary Paulsen
Dogsong
Dogsong
Gary Paulsen
Guts
Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books
Gary Paulsen
Harris and Me
Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered
Gary Paulsen
How Angel Peterson Got His Name
How Angel Peterson Got His Name
Gary Paulsen
Lawn Boy
Lawn Boy
Gary Paulsen
Liar, Liar
Liar, Liar
Gary Paulsen
Masters of Disaster
Masters of Disaster
Gary Paulsen
My Life in Dog Years
My Life in Dog Years
Gary Paulsen
Nightjohn
Nightjohn
Gary Paulsen
Northwind
Northwind
Gary Paulsen
Soldiers Heart
Soldiers Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers
Gary Paulsen
The Crossing
The Crossing
Gary Paulsen
The Monument
The Monument
Gary Paulsen
The River
The River
Gary Paulsen
The Transall Saga
The Transall Saga
Gary Paulsen
The Voyage of the Frog
The Voyage of the Frog
Gary Paulsen