Started off skeptical, got sucked in. The last bit sort of petered out pacing wise, but I was still sorry to see the story come to an end.

3 for 3 on 5 star Rachel Harrison reads. Her books have this great balance of darkness and light and always surprise me with their depth. Can’t wait to read the next one. 

This was my first read of Hatchet, and I can definitely see why it remains a classic. It is a short, action packed story with lots of literary merit, perfect for class readings. It is still surprisingly popular in my middle school library. I honestly wish we had more books like this being published today, brief, plot heavy, and allowing middle school aged students to independently confront the realities of life head on. I can see why it’s so compelling and cathartic at that age. 

This book fills a huge whole in the market that I’ve never even considered: middle grade books about cults. This one was very well done and nuanced. Fern was given the space to process and deprogram from her experience, as well as to mourn the changes in her life. As a middle school librarian, I hope there continue to be books like this, especially slightly aged up from this one. This is the exact type of topic middle schoolers would eat up if the cover/protagonist/writing were a little more mature. As is, I would say the sweet spot for this one is grades 5 and 6.

3.5 What did I just read? This started out so good and rich and dynamic and then it just… dissolved? It felt like the author burnt out before reaching the end. Also it was hard to be happy for the characters when they were just kind of chill about killing this innocent dude the whole time? I wish he had been an asshole or something so it could be campy and feminist instead of kind of sad queer witches. But the fall vibes were 5 stars.