72 pages • 2 hours read
Hatchet
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Quiz
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Chapters 1-3
Reading Check
1. Where is Brian going for the summer, and why?
2. What is happening between Brian’s mother and father?
3. What gift did Brian’s mother give him before he left?
Multiple Choice
1. What happens to the pilot?
A) He takes a wrong turn.
B) He loses his memory.
C) He starts shaking.
D) He dies.
2. Where does the plane crash-land?
A) in a lake
B) on top of a mountain
C) in the ocean
D) in a field
3. What happens to Brian after the crash?
A) He falls through the broken windshield.
B) He is trapped in the plane for hours.
C) He makes it to land and falls unconscious.
D) He breaks his arm getting out of the plane.
Short-Answer Response
Answer the following question in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. While still in the air, Brian realizes the plane will eventually run out of fuel. What is his plan for when it does?
Chapters 4-6
Reading Check
1. What main injury does Brian have as a result of the crash?
2. Besides his injury, name two other things that cause Brian discomfort.
3. What does Brian find to eat?
4. Where does Brian spend the night?
Multiple Choice
1. When the sun comes up, what pests swarm Brian?
A) flies
B) mosquitos
C) moths
D) bees
2. What does Brian do when he wakes up feeling unbelievable thirsty?
A) finds a running stream
B) boils lake water
C) drinks water directly from the lake
D) drinks dew that has gathered on leaves
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is “the Secret” that Brian keeps thinking about?
2. At first, Brian thinks searchers will be able to find him in a few days. Then, he realizes that might not be the case. Why might searchers have a hard time finding him?
Chapters 7-9
Reading Check
1. What makes Brian sick?
2. What wild animal does Brian see while picking raspberries?
Multiple Choice
1. What visitor comes into Brian’s shelter at night?
A) a skunk
B) a snake
C) a badger
D) a porcupine
2. It’s dark in the shelter, so which of his five senses tells Brian that an animal is in the shelter?
A) hearing
B) smell
C) taste
D) touch
3. What new discovery does Brian make after having a dream about his father and Terry?
A) how to use the hatchet to create sparks
B) how to waterproof his shelter
C) how to catch a fish
D) how to defend himself against animals
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Other than his obvious emergency situation, what else is bothering Brian?
2. Describe Brian’s feelings after the animal attacks him in his shelter.
Chapters 10-12
Reading Check
1. What significant accomplishment does Brian make after much trial and error?
2. What new food source does Brian discover buried in the sand?
3. How does Brian sense the presence of the plane?
Multiple Choice
1. What new realization does Brian have about the lake?
A) that he could bath in it
B) that the pilot’s body is in it
C) that it contains fish
D) that its water isn’t safe to drink
2. What new weapons does Brian decide to make?
A) a spear and a bow and arrow
B) a knife and a spear
C) an axe and a slingshot
D) a slingshot and a bow and arrow
3. After the plane passes by without seeing the smoke signal, how does Brian feel?
A) angry
B) disbelieving
C) confused
D) hopeless
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. List three advantages that the fire brings for Brian.
2. Brian has many “things to do.” What are some of the things he does to stay busy?
3. Brian starts noticing some changes in himself. What are some ways he has changed?
Chapters 13-15
Reading Check
1. What weapon does Brian use to catch fish?
2. What animal comes and digs up the turtle eggs?
3. How does Brian make a supply of fish easily available?
4. What is the day of First Meat?
Multiple Choice
1. According to Brian, how is making a mistake in the wilderness different from making a mistake in the city?
A) There is no difference.
B) Mistakes in the wilderness could be deadly, while mistakes in the city can be easily fixed.
C) Mistakes in the wilderness are unavoidable, while mistakes in the city can be avoided.
D) Mistakes in the wilderness can be fixed, while mistakes in the city cannot.
2. What is the main mistake from which Brian learns in Chapter 14?
A) Fishing in the lake will make him sick.
B) Failing to gather wood every day will lead to the fire going out.
C) Falling while on a hike will make it impossible to find food.
D) Leaving food near the shelter will attract animals.
3. What improvements does Brian make to his shelter?
A) He weaves a wall and a door.
B) He builds a cabinet and fireplace.
C) He makes a carpet out of pine branches.
D) He creates baskets for food storage.
4. How does Brian begin to see the foolbirds?
A) He starts recognizing their feathers.
B) He looks for the white spot they have on their heads.
C) He trains his eyes to see the shape of the birds.
D) He watches for their movement.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Up until Chapter 13, Paulsen gives a day-by-day account of Brian’s situation. How does that timeline of events change at this point in the novel?
2. What transformation does Brian experience after the plane passes by without seeing him?
3. Describe the process must Brian go through in order to successfully catch a fish.
Chapters 16-Epilogue
Reading Check
1. What strange sound awakens Brian from sleep?
2. What is causing the sound, and how does it affect Brian?
3. When Brian finally reaches the survival pack, what sight almost causes him to drown?
Multiple Choice
1. What method does Brian learn to use for getting close to the foolbirds without scaring them?
A) walking directly toward them
B) climbing a tree and shooting them
C) staying low to the ground
D) approaching them at an angle
2. What does Brian realize after seeing the tail of the plane sticking up out of the lake?
A) The survival pack is still inside the plane.
B) The pilot’s body is in the plane.
C) The plane might have a radio that still works.
D) The plane will act as a beacon to rescue teams.
3. What is Brian doing when the pilot finds him?
A) gathering firewood
B) swimming in the lake
C) cooking
D) sleeping
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Describe the moose attack in your own words.
2. What problems does Brian encounter as he goes through the process of retrieving the survival pack? Describe at least three.
Quizzes – Answer Key
Chapters 1-3
Reading Check
1. Canada, to see his father (Chapter 1)
2. They are getting divorced. (Chapter 1)
3. a hatchet (Chapter 1)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Brian plans to push the nose of the plane down, then slow the plane as much as possible; he will try to land in a clearing or edge of a lake, partially on the water, to avoid crashing into trees. (Chapter 2)
Chapters 4-6
Reading Check
1. His head is in pain; he seems to have hit it badly in the crash. (Chapter 4)
2. Answers may vary but should include two of the following: his back hurts, his leg hurts, his clothes are wet, he’s cold, mosquitos attack him, his eyes swell (because of the mosquito bites), he feels dizzy, he feels tired. (Chapter 4)
3. berries, somewhat like cherries, with pits (Chapter 6)
4. He found a type of cave or shelter against a rock ridge, with a rock overhand that acted as a roof. (Chapter 6)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. He saw his mother meeting with a man in a station wagon—a man who was not Brian’s father. (Chapter 4)
2. When the pilot had a heart attack, he jerked and moved the plan off course; therefore, Brian is likely several hundred miles from the planned flight course. (Chapter 5)
Chapters 7-9
Reading Check
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. The Secret of his mother seeing another man returns to Brian’s mind. He saw his mother kiss the man, and it weighs on Brian that his father doesn’t know about it. (Chapter 7)
2. Brian is in pain from the porcupine quills and is overwhelmed with self-pity. He cries and feels like he can’t do it; he can’t handle being alone, scared, and in the dark. (Chapter 8)
Chapters 10-12
Reading Check
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Students can list others, but their answers might include one or more of these: warmth, light, a way to repel mosquitos, a way to ward off wild animals, a means of signaling to a rescue plane, a way to cook food. (Chapter 10)
2. Answers may vary, but student responses may include the following: gather wood, cut wood, feed the fire, clean the camp, prepare a signal fire, find wood for a spear, make a spear, make a bow and arrow. (Chapters 11-12)
3. Brian’s senses are heightened—he can see and hear differently and make connections between what different sights and sounds indicate. He is also constantly at the ready to deal with dangers, problems, and to react to what his senses are telling him. Finally, he is motivated to act rather than sitting around feeling sorry for himself. (Chapter 11)
Chapters 13-15
Reading Check
1. a bow and arrow (Chapter 13)
2. a skunk (Chapter 14)
3. He makes a pen or pond for holding live fish. (Chapter 14)
4. the day Brian first kills a foolbird (Chapter 15)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Paulsen fast-forwards several weeks and now explains some things that already happened, with Brian looking back on the weeks that have passed. (Chapter 13)
2. Brian reaches his lowest point and wants to die, attempting to kill himself. He wakes in the morning, however, and finds himself reborn. He finds a new sense of motivation, toughness, and hope. (Chapter 13)
3. He spends a few days making the bow and two arrows, but the bow breaks the first time he uses it. He makes a new bow that works well but keeps missing the fish until he realizes that the water’s refraction is affecting his aim. He learns to aim just below the fish to hit them. (Chapter 13)
Chapters 16-Epilogue
Reading Check
1. a noise (Chapter 16)
2. a tornado that whips Brian against the wall of the shelter (Chapter 16)
3. seeing the pilot’s body (Chapter 17)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Student answers will vary but should include some form of the following information: A moose charges at Brian while he is rinsing his hands in the lake. She hits him with her forehead, throwing him into the lake. She charges a second time while Brian is recovering his breath, and pushes his head underwater, into the mud of the lake. The moose seems to leave him alone, so Brian tries to get out of the water, but she comes back for the third attack. After this, Brian feels very hurt, and can only move in slow increments to avoid attracting the moose’s attention again. (Chapter 16)
2. Student answers will vary but should include three of the following: Brian must gather logs to make a raft and use strips of his windbreaker to make a rope. When he gets to the plane, he ties up the raft and takes a short break. He uses the hatchet to cut through the plane’s aluminum exterior, but accidentally drops the hatchet. Brian then must dive down and retrieve the hatchet, which takes a few tries. After getting inside the plane, he panics when he sees the pilots’ remains and almost drowns. With difficulty, he locates and retrieves the bag, then must drag the raft and bag back to the lakeshore. (Chapter 18)
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