Hatchet: Chapters 5–8

by Gary Paulsen
The sole survivor of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson will need resourcefulness, courage, and strength in order to stay alive.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–12, Chapters 13–16, Chapters 17–Epilogue

Here is a link to our lists for The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. relative
    not absolute or complete
    It was hot now, but the sun was high and to his rear and he sat in the shade of the tree in relative comfort.
  2. extensive
    broad in scope or content
    When a plane went down they mounted extensive searches and almost always they found the plane within a day or two.
  3. motivated
    strongly driven to succeed or achieve something
    All Perpich would say is that I have to get motivated.
  4. asset
    a useful or valuable quality
    Perpich used to drum that into them —“ You are your most valuable asset."
  5. diminish
    decrease in size, extent, or range
    He wanted to stay near the lake because he thought the plane, even deep in the water, might show up to somebody flying over and he didn’t want to diminish any chance he might have of being found.
  6. pulverize
    make into a powder by breaking up or cause to become dust
    Some of the rock that had been scooped out had also been pulverized by the glacial action, turned into sand, and now made a small sand beach that went down to the edge of the water in front and to the right of the overhang.
  7. glacial
    relating to or derived from a slowly moving mass of ice
    Some of the rock that had been scooped out had also been pulverized by the glacial action, turned into sand, and now made a small sand beach that went down to the edge of the water in front and to the right of the overhang.
  8. recede
    become faint or more distant
    As soon as the cold water hit his stomach he felt the hunger sharpen, as it had before, and he stood and held his abdomen until the hunger cramps receded.
  9. crude
    not carefully or expertly made
    He turned and looked at it, studied the crude work.
  10. gorge
    overeat or eat immodestly
    Soon, as before, his stomach was full, but now he had some sense and he did not gorge or cram more down.
  11. rivulet
    a small stream
    Soon the sand outside was drenched and there were rivulets running down to the lake.
  12. musty
    covered with or smelling of mold
    The smell was one of rot, some musty rot that made him think only of graves with cobwebs and dust and old death.
  13. gingerly
    with extreme care or delicacy
    His fingers gingerly touched a group of needles that had been driven through his pants and into the fleshy part of his calf.
  14. segment
    one of the parts into which something naturally divides
    In the initial segment of the dream his father was standing at the side of a living room looking at him and it was clear from his expression that he was trying to tell Brian something.
  15. lance
    a long pointed rod used as a weapon
    He should keep it in his hand, and make a tool of some kind to help push an animal away. Make a staff, he thought, or a lance, and save the hatchet.
Created on Fri Feb 22 03:51:02 EST 2013 (updated Fri Jun 13 14:11:42 EDT 2025)

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