Brian's Winter: Chapters 4–8

by Gary Paulsen
This sequel to Hatchet and The River imagines that 13-year-old Brian Robeson wasn't rescued the summer after he survived a plane crash and had to survive the winter in the Canadian wilderness on his own.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–8, Chapter 9–Epilogue
12 words 590 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lethargy
    weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy
    A kind of lethargy came over him and he just wanted to sit in the sun and try to forget the last week.
  2. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    He took kindling into the shelter and made a small fire, and closed off the opening to see what would happen.
  3. scrutinize
    look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail
    He set the shaft aside and went back to the fire rock — he was already thinking of it as the arrow stone — and scrutinized it once more.
  4. marrow
    very tender and very nutritious tissue from bones
    There was still a lot of meat on them and he chopped them up with the hatchet and kept a pot boiling all day to boil the meat and marrow from them.
  5. venison
    meat from a deer used as food
    Slowly Brian reached to his right, where the meat was stored back in the corner, and took a piece of the venison.
  6. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    In the morning he pushed the door to the side gingerly, looking both ways.
  7. stymie
    hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
    The arrows were done but he had yet to string the bow and was stymied on where to get a string long enough until he saw the cord at the end of the sleeping bag.
  8. exertion
    use of physical or mental energy; hard work
    When it was halfway to his chin the bow seemed to double in strength and he was shaking with the exertion by the time he got the feathers all the way back and the cord seemed to be cutting through his fingers.
  9. lance
    a long pointed rod used as a weapon
    Perhaps, he thought, a lance — a killing lance.
  10. dismal
    causing dejection
    It was cold and low and gray and raining, a dismal rain much like the one that had lasted so long earlier in the fall, and he kindled the fire with dry wood he’d set aside the night before when he’d seen the clouds moving in.
  11. brittle
    having little elasticity
    It had no give and was brittle and hard and very, very tough.
  12. supple
    moving and bending with ease
    It never got truly soft and supple like tanned deer hide, but it was workable and got the job done.
Created on Tue May 12 11:10:31 EDT 2020 (updated Mon Jul 28 17:33:53 EDT 2025)

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