Winner of the American Newbery Medal.
Brian, a thirteen-year-old boy who was flying a light aircraft, was emotionally hurt by his parents' divorce.
Brian crash-lands in the Canadian forest after the pilot suffers a heart attack.
How could I possibly meet people in this isolated, uninhabited forest, with only the hatchet my mother gave me as a gift and a few essential tools?
This true-to-life survival story conveys a sense of tension and realism that goes beyond a simple adventure story.

'There is a way.
There must be a way.
Humans made fire.
Humans have been using fire for thousands of years, if not longer.
There must be some way'
Brian reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill from his wallet.
'It's just a useless piece of paper here, but it might be useful for starting a fire.'
He tore up twenty dollar bills into small pieces, stacked them, and set them on fire.
But the flame still did not catch on to the banknote.
'There must be a way...
There must be some way to start a fire'
About six meters to the right, a birch branch was visible hanging over the lake.
After watching the branch for a while, an idea occurred to me.
The white branches were covered with bark that looked like wrinkled paper.
It was paper!
Brian walked towards the birch tree.
The bark peeled off the trunk and swelled into small, fluffy vines.
I peeled the bark off the tree and rolled it around my finger.
The dry bark was as thin as thread and seemed like it would catch fire easily.

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