Brian's Return (Brian's Saga Series #4) by Gary Paulsen

From the Publisher

For more than a decade, readers and reviewers everywhere have praised Gary Paulsen's exciting stories about brave Brian Robeson. In the Newbery Honor book Hatchet, 13-year-old Brian was stranded in the Canadian wilderness with only the clothes on his back and a hatchet to help him survive. The River brought 15-year-old Brian back to the wilderness for a government project -- where he was left with a wounded partner and a rapid river to navigate. An alternative sequel, Brian's Winter, posed the question: What if Brian had not been rescued? Now comes Brian's Return -- the final, gripping conclusion to Paulsen's extraordinary saga.

VOYA

It has been two years since the small plane crashed in the wilderness and Brian is now nearly sixteen. No matter how hard he tries, he does not fit into today's fast-paced world. He longs for the solitude of the northern lakes and woods. After a vicious fight with a high school football player, Brian is sent to a counselor to work out his problems. Brian just wants to go back home to the woods. Paulsen spends sixty pages of this novel preparing Brian for his trip back to the northern wilderness. The reader learns in great detail about specific types of bows and arrows, as well as other camping/survival equipment. With a canoe and his bow and arrows, Brian blends back into the woods and waterways he loves so much. An encounter with a bear and a torrential rainstorm only remind him that one must prepare for the unexpected in the wilderness. Also unexpected is the arrival of the old woodsman, Billy. When Brian tells Billy about the deer he saw that day, and how it looked directly at him, Billy says that it is Brian's "medicine deer" and he must listen to what the deer tells him. In the morning Brian finds a rawhide loop with a bit of whitetail deer tail and a crow feather tied to it-medicine to guide him. Brian dips his paddle into the water and as his canoe silently glides through the pristine wilderness he knows that he will follow his medicine, wherever it will take him. Paulsen fans will love this final chapter in Brian's quest for the woodsman's way of life. The author's note explains that the things that happen to Brian in the four novels-Hatchet (Simon & Schuster, 1987/VOYA February 1988), The River (Delacorte, 1991/VOYA August 1991), Brian's Winter (Delacorte, 1996/VOYA February 1997), and Brian's Return-have happened to Paulsen during his life-long romance with the wilderness. VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M (Readable without serious defects, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8).

KLIATT

To quote KLIATT's Nov. 1998 review of the hardcover edition: In this conclusion to the story that began with the classic survival tale Hatchet and continued in The River and Brian's Winter, Brian Robeson has returned to civilization—and he hates it. Back home and in high school, he tries to fit in, but the noise and the lack of solitude trouble him, and he misses the woods desperately...Brain makes a careful list of what he needs to bring with him to survive alone in the north woods, from a canoe to the right kind of arrowheads—and the complete works of Shakespeare. But nature is unpredictable, as Brian is reminded when a deer leaps into his canoe and capsizes it, a storm collapses his tent, and he pokes his leg with an arrow. The beauty and joy of being in the wild help Brian rise above the challenges he faces, and an encounter with a stranger reaffirms his dedication to life in the woods...In spare and evocative prose, the novel conveys his love of the wild. Readers will be intrigued by Brain's list and his survival skills, and enjoy his adventures, though they are not quite as dramatic as those in the other novels. This quick read will appeal to reluctant readers as well as to the many fans of Hatchet and its sequels. KLIATT Codes: J*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 1999, Random House, Dell Laurel-Leaf, 120p. 18cm., $5.50. Ages 13 to 15. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; KLIATT , July 2001 (Vol. 35, No. 4)

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up--Readers who have been dissatisfied with the various endings to the story of Brian of Hatchet (Bradbury, 1987) fame now have another alternative ending--perhaps the one for which they've been waiting. In Brian's Return, Paulsen describes the boy's escalating inability to participate in modern American teenage life, climaxing in a physical confrontation outside a pizza parlor during which Brian behaves as if he's been confronted by a threatening wild animal. Sent for counseling after this incident, he realizes that he needs to return to the wild and lead an existence attuned to nature rather than MTV. This seems to be a logical conclusion for him, and readers have long since ceased to worry about this young man's ability to cope with any hazard nature may throw his way, so they can leave him in the North Woods with absolute contentment. It is a relief that Paulsen's considerable talents are now freed to address other subjects.--Miriam Lang Budin, Mt. Kisco Public Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

Paulsen brings the story he began in Hatchet (1987) and continued in the alternate sequels The River (1991) and Brian's Winter (1996) around to a sometimes-mystical close. Surviving the media coverage and the unwanted attention of other high school students has become more onerous to Brian than his experiences in the wild; realizing that the wilderness has become larger within him than the need to be with people, Brian methodically gathers survival equipment-listed in detail-then leaves his old life behind. It takes some time, plus a brutal fight and sessions with a savvy counselor, before Brian reaches that realization, but once out under the trees, it's obvious that his attachment to the wild is a permanent one. Becoming ever more attuned to the natural wonders around him, he travels over a succession of lakes and streams, pausing to make camp, howl with a wolf, read Shakespeare to a pair of attentive otters and, once, to share a meal with an old man who talks about animal guides and leaves a medicine bundle for him. Readers hoping for the high adventure of the previous books may be disappointed, as Brian is now so skilled that a tipped canoe or a wild storm are only inconveniences, and even bears more hazard than threat; still, Paulsen bases many of his protagonist's experiences on his own, and the wilderness through which Brian moves is vividly observed. Afterword. (Fiction. 11-13) .

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