Hatchet Lesson Plan

Why do you think the porcupine might have come into Brian's shelter?

If students can come up with an answer to this, they might be able to predict something that happens later in the book. Brian had cherries and raspberries in his shelter when the porcupine came into it. It's very possible the animal was just looking for food. It could have been much worse for Brian--he saw a bear in the raspberry patch; what if it had been a bear coming into his shelter? In the next day's reading, Brian hides turtle eggs within his shelter and a skunk comes digging for them. When discussing the reading, refer back to this moment and ask if any students expected what happened with the...