Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

I first read this book in 4th grade, and I thought it was pretty good. The movie didn't do it justice, but that was no surprise. It probably wouldn't be right to make a teenage actor lose 40% of his body weight for a role.

I don't know what your schooling was like, but most of our required reading was done in-class, and followed by a screening of the required book's film adaptation. However, it wasn't until fifth grade that I realized what a waste of time it was to show interest in my school work.

So returning to Hatchet, I still thought it was pretty good, a good primer for the sequels I've heard about. Books on wilderness survival have always interested me, since it's always possible that I'll someday find myself in a situtation like Hatchet's Brian. I don't know how much the writer truly knew about surviving in the wild, but it seemed like enough.