Hatchet: Chapters 9–12

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. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    Clearly there had to be something for the sparks to ignite, some kind of tinder or kindling—but what?
  2. exasperation
    a feeling of annoyance
    He settled back on his haunches in exasperation, looking at the pitiful clump of grass and twigs.
  3. register
    enter into someone's consciousness
    Not twenty feet to his right, leaning out over the water were birches and he stood looking at them for a full half-minute before they registered on his mind.
  4. tendril
    slender structure by which some plants attach to an object
    He moved to the trees. Where the bark was peeling from the trunks it lifted in tiny tendrils, almost fluffs.
  5. flammable
    easily ignited
    They seemed flammable, dry and nearly powdery.
  6. painstaking
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
    It was painstaking work, slow work, and he stayed with it for over two hours.
  7. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    A cloud of sparks rained down, most of them missing the nest, but some, perhaps thirty or so, hit in the depression and of those six or seven found fuel and grew, smoldered and caused the bark to take on the red glow.
  8. dormant
    inactive but capable of becoming active
    The hunger, always there, had been somewhat controlled and dormant when there was nothing to eat but with the eggs came the scream to eat.
  9. convulse
    contract involuntarily, as in a spasm
    His throat tried to throw it back up, his whole body seemed to convulse with it, but his stomach took it, held it, and demanded more.
  10. staggering
    so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm
    He had decided to always have enough on hand for three days and after spending one night with the fire for a friend he knew what a staggering amount of wood it would take.
  11. comprise
    include or contain
    He moved to the top of the rock ridge that comprised the bluff over his shelter and was pleased to find a large, flat stone area.
  12. initially
    at the beginning
    Initially he had thought of making a signal fire every day but he couldn’t — he would never be able to keep the wood supply going.
  13. emerge
    come out into view, as from concealment
    It emerged a split part of a second later.
  14. taper
    diminish gradually
    Then, propping the hatchet in a crack in the rock wall, he had pulled the head of his spear against it, carving a thin piece off each time, until the thick end tapered down to a needle point.
  15. effective
    producing or capable of producing an intended result
    It was crude, but it looked effective and seemed to have good balance when he stood outside the shelter and hefted the spear.
Created on Fri Feb 22 04:20:00 EST 2013 (updated Fri Jun 13 14:23:54 EDT 2025)

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