Characters & Relationships
This person gives Brian the tool that becomes his most valuable possession in the wilderness.
Who is his mother? (She gives him the hatchet.)
Brian’s plane goes down near this kind of natural feature.
What is a lake? (He crash-lands into a lake in the northern woods.)
The problem that starts Brian’s emergency is this event in the cockpit.
What is the pilot’s heart attack?
Brian first cooks with this new skill that he discovers by striking two materials together.
What is making fire with sparks (hatchet on stone)?
Cause: The pilot is unresponsive.
Effect: Brian must do this.
What is try to fly/steer the plane and attempt a landing?
This is the person Brian thinks about when he remembers “The Secret.”
Who is his mother (and the man with the short blond hair)? (He wrestles with the secret of her affair.)
Brian’s first shelter is made here.
What is a rock overhang/small cave along the lake?
After crashing, Brian uses this method to get to shore.
What is swimming out of the submerged plane and to the bank?
Found in the sand by the water, these become an important early source of protein.
What are turtle eggs?
Cause: Brian sleeps without protecting his food. Effect: This animal raids his eggs.
What is a skunk? (It steals some eggs and sprays him.)
This person has a heart attack while flying Brian to his destination.
Who is the pilot?
This metal object becomes the key to making fire.
What is the hatchet (striking it on stone to make sparks)?
Brian first eats these berries and gets sick, then finds a better berry patch.
What are “gut cherries” (chokecherries) first, then raspberries?
Brian calls these birds “foolbirds” because they’re hard to see even when they’re right there.
What are ruffed grouse?
Cause: Brian throws the hatchet at an animal in the shelter. Effect: He learns this about his most important tool.
What is not to throw it and to keep it close because it’s vital to survival?
This family situation is weighing on Brian even before the crash.
What is his parents’ divorce?
Brian improves his shelter after an animal raid by adding this kind of protection.
What is a better door/brush wall and a raised food shelf/storage?
An encounter with this animal teaches Brian a painful lesson about not throwing his hatchet.
What is a porcupine? (He gets quills in his leg.)
Brian’s first try at this tool doesn’t work well for fishing, which teaches him about refraction in water.
What is a spear? (He learns the fish aren’t where they appear.)
Cause: The fish look like they’re in one place but are actually in another.
Effect: Brian changes this about his fishing method.
What is adjusting his aim (and later building better tools like a bow/arrow or fish setup)?
Brian doesn’t tell anyone about “The Secret.” Explain how keeping this secret shapes his mindset in the first half of the book.
What is that it isolates him emotionally, adds to his anger and confusion, and makes him feel alone—feelings he must overcome to think clearly and survive?
What do the lake and the rock ledge symbolize in Brian’s survival story?
What is that they symbolize both danger and safety— the lake threatens (plane crash) but provides food and water; the rock shelter is cramped but becomes a home he adapts to?
After a plane passes and doesn’t see him, Brian changes. Describe the “old Brian” vs. the “new Brian.”
What is that “old Brian” is angry, unfocused, and waiting for rescue; “new Brian” accepts his situation, plans ahead, observes carefully, and takes steady action to survive?
Explain how Brian’s fire changes his survival plan and his mindset.
What is that fire gives warmth, protection, cooked food, and confidence; it marks the shift from panic to problem-solving and routine?
Cause: Brian pays careful attention to small details in nature (sounds, bird behavior, shadows).
Effect: Explain how this habit affects his chances of surviving.
What is that observation leads to better decisions—finding food, spotting danger, and conserving energy—so his survival odds increase with each learned detail?