This section of the Planet Book Club web site links classrooms around the country in a discussion of Hatchet, a 1988 Newbery Honor Book by Gary Paulsen. It will work best if everyone starts on the same date (April 12, 1999) and reads the book at the same pace. The Student Comments page has an outline of weekly reading assignments. Please note that the pace will be four lessons/chapters per week, instead of five.

The online activity is based on the lesson plan published in the Book Club teacher's handbook. The handbook and its companion videotape outline the Book Club program in detail and provide lesson plans for many other books, including Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, and Last Summer with Maizon by Jacqueline Woodson. See the ordering information available at this web site.

If you're joining an online discussion for the first time, see the section on Introducing Students to the Online Discussion. If you already have a clear idea of how the activity works, you can skip this and go straight to the discussion pages (see links below).

Accessing the Online Discussion

Use these links to go to read the comments that we've received so far, or to access the forms that allow you and your students to submit comments:

Related Resources

The November/December 1997 issue of Creative Classroom contains an interview with Gary Paulsen (including discussion questions based on Paulsen's remarks) and a readers' theater script for eight voices based on Hatchet. Thanks to Book Club teacher Jean Samples for bringing this article to our attention!

The following are links to some web sites that you might find useful during your teaching of Hatchet.

• Gary Paulsen
• Learning About Gary Paulsen