From: Betty Ihlenfeldt <cinnamon>
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 07:16:54 +0000

I like Brian, as I like so many of the maverick readers I see in English courses here. He copes and adjusts and resists and survives. He doesn't seem to do much reflecting on his circumstances but as he goes and grows I project that he will meander a bit in his memories as many of us do.

Paulson's done what we often ask literature students to do--to turn the plot and make a new one (and he's given us several books for our
"at risk" readers who are in our high school classes but who refuse the more "literary" offerings. And whether readers have "done"
-Hatchet- and/or -The River-, this story will, I think, be memorable. That there are no adults, no intervening saviors, no laid-out plan often scares our "in-civilization" students. They want something to resist. Nature's unbending about its scope and sequence. Paulson's BEEN there, DONE that and he knows the twists and turns. (I recall his recollection of a childhood where he had to hide beneath a table while a physical and verbal battle between his parents raged all about in the room above him. What a crucible for creativity and new plots off old pieces?)

Comparing Mia and Brian is fun, too. Neither is readily "picked up to be hugged" as a recent ccbc note said. Neither is an environment that welcomes them. Neither has a plan to keep the bears (they're in Tennessee in relating, I think) totally at bay. And yet both are survivors. Both do something beside sit awaiting the collisions with
"reality". Both give a reader a little push, a little stir, some metaphors to consider. Metaphors be with us!?

                                                                Instructor Betty Ihlenfeldt, English Department, DeForest H.S
Received on Tue 15 Oct 1996 02:16:54 AM CDT