Introduction-The River was one of the best books I have ever read. This book was written by one of my favorite authors: Gary Paulsen. He has written many good books including: Hatchet, The Hunt, and Brian’s Return.

Description and summary of main points-This book is about a boy named Brian, who has been a character in many of Gary Paulsen’s books. His first appearance was in Hatchet. It was about a boy named Brian who was going to visit his dad who lived in Canada. While he was flying, the pilot had a serious heart attack and crashed the plane in the middle of a lake in the wilderness of Canada. When Brian comes to, he realizes he is all alone and starts his adventure to survive. Then in The River we meet Brian once again, but this time he is a little older. In the beginning of this book Brian is at home waiting for his mother to come home from work. He cooks dinner and gets a knock at the door, when he answers he finds three men, two men look very strong. Brian invites them in and they sit down and start to talk. His mother finally arrives later than normal. They start talking about his experience in Canada. Then they ask a question that Brian and his mother would never forget, it was if Brian would be allowed to go back and do it all over again. One of the men was writing a handbook for the army, it was about how to survive like Brian did once before. Brian and his mom agree to let him go and in no time Brian is flying to try and survive once again only this time he has someone to help him. When they landed they decide to send all of the supplies they brought and only keep the essentials. After they find a water source and a shelter a bad storms comes and tragedy strikes. The man that came with Brian (Derrick) was struck by lightning and so was the radio so he couldn’t call for help. Brian constructs a raft and starts heading for a trading post. I do not want to spoil the ending so I recommend reading this book.

Evaluation-I think it is a very good book. It is one of the best I have ever read. I have read many books written by Gary Paulsen. It kept my attention until the very end. I gave this book a 4.5/5, highly recommended!

Conclusion-I do not want to spoil the ending, but I will say it is very surprising.

Your final review-A couple of my friends have read this book also, and they said the exact same thing I did. They would recommend this book to anyone as would I.