Brian's Winter picks up where Paulsen's Hatchet (Bradbury, 1987) left off--almost--exploring what life for 13-year-old Brian Robeson would have been like had he not been rescued at the end of the earlier novel. Now faced with enduring a winter in the Alaskan wilderness where he has been stranded after a plane crash, Brian's story of survival takes on added urgency as tries to predict and prepare for his needs as the temperature grows increasingly cold. He has no warm clothes, no stored food, no decent shelter. But as the snows begin to fall, Brian is determined to meet the challenge, using all that he knows and can learn from the natural world that both threatens and offers him salvation. (Age 10-13)