NEWS: Books Will Save Your Life. Literally.

CULTURE: Books Will Save Your Life. Literally.

When I was around nine years old, I somehow got it in me to devour every Gary Paulsen novel that I could get my little hands on. Each one was a flurry of snow dogs and wolves and canoes and starvation and just fighting alone against the elements in general. I loved them for the same reason I scared myself senseless watching Alive! before going on a plane ride: part of the entertainment value was that, as incredible and far-removed as the stories were from my own life, they are just true and real enough to prompt that little voice in your head that says “one misstep, and this could be you.”

Of course, the chances of surviving a charter plane crash and scavenging in brutal mountainous conditions for weeks on end are extremely slim, but no one ever said anything about situations slightly less extreme. Besides, it has to happen to someone or such stories would never be told, right? When it happened to 12-year-old Michael Auberry this past week, it was just a good thing he’d done his homework.

In case you’ve never read it, Hatchet is about this kid named Brian who’s flying in a little charter plane to visit his dad in Canada when the pilot keels over and dies at the controls. The plane crashes in a lake the middle of the wilderness, and Brian, having swum to relative safety, has to live by his wits, windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present. By staying calm and contemplative, learning quickly to hunt and fish, finding fresh water, and building a shelter, the boy survives for 54 days before being rescued. 54 days is a long time, but the book is extreme and fiction. In real life, the four days that Michael Auberry was lost were long enough for potential tragedy.

Gary Paulsen was reached for comment, and I was pleased to find out that he’s keeping it real by living amongst the Siberian Huskies in the middle of Alaskan tundra, instead of a posh beach house somewhere.

Now every preteen boy reading Pokemon manga feels like a total sucker. +5 ice resistance in the Viridian Forest Battledome only goes so far when you’re at half-health and it’s freezing outside and you can’t just press reset.



(Doff o' the Cap to Media Bistro's Galleycat )

I want to know what the boy has to say.

Hurray books!

So combine some real world skills from the boy scouts and an inspirational book=survivalism.

Good for the kid he's smart huh?

Oh man! I totally remember that book., if only for the whole thing about the pilot having really bad gas right before he dies. Leave it to me to remember a book because of its fart related incidents.

see, I mostly read jack london. I would probably try to make friends with a wolf first thing.

I don't know which is cooler; the fact that Hatchet helped save a kids life, or the fact that you just doffed your cap to someone.

I read a lot of John Grisham books in my pre-adolescent days, so should I ever need to convince a jury to grant a large settlement to the widow of a smoker, I should be set.


In all seriousness, this is great, regardless of how much influence the book had in the kid's survival.

I read every Stephen King book i could find since my parents allowed me to in third grade (though I never understood the sex scenes haha). Hatchet ruled though, reminds me of that guy on discovery channel who just drops himself off in the middle of nowhere and tries to survive on his army training. Lets give this kid a show like that!

I had to read that book in grade school. The only thing I learned was not to fly over Canada. in a charter plane. It's served me well over the years.

I know, right? Charter planes are all-around bad news, especially in Canada, and especially in the Andes, where you're forced to eat your rugby teammates.

dude that totally your previous work experiences coming back to haunt you. run away.

Hahaha and leave it to me totally block that part out until just now!

This book is why I always carry a hatchet.

It's served me well over the years - job interviews, discounts on chocolate, run-ins with the Crypts and the Bloods.

The Boy Scout thing could've helped a little. Wilderness Survival merit badge is hardcore in a Discovery Channel Survivorman kind of way.

But I'll be able to comfort myself with the thoughts of Torchic evolving into Combusken.

classic in my books. we read it for school, and then watched the movie which had a gruesome bear kill scene. woo books!

+1.

Very cool, I remember reading it when, yes, I was a Boy Scout. I'm willing to bet that the Boy Scouts helped with alot of it.

ohhh i read it on school too, so long ago i had forgotten about it, good book!!

I remember reading Hatchet. I liked it as a kid. maybe I should thumb through it again.

I'll give it a shot, but i have a deathly fear of snakes, so if you hear me scream like a little girl and notice a wet spot in my pants, you have to come save me.

But on a good note, i always have a lighter, so i can make fire!

I read comic books and Stephen King most of my youth, once the plane crashed i probably would of waited for a superhero to come save me and died with that thought in mind, or would have waited for some horrific beast or disease in the woods to decimate me.

I remember the part of that book where he pees on trees to keep the wolf at bay. Real life lesson? Foreign policy: when engaged in territory disputes, the best resolution is a pissing contest.

Hey, when they are the only way in and out of the Alaskan Bush Village you live in, Charter planes RULE. Trust me.

Hmm...well it takes at least a week to die of dehydration. Depending on your body fat, most people can go at least a month without eating. If the kid just sat on a tree stump he'd most likely still be just as alive as he is now.