Brian's Winter

Brian's Winter is a young adult novel by the American writer Gary Paulsen, published in 1996. It is the third book of the Hatchet series and the second in the series' internal chronology, an alternate continuation of the first novel rather than a sequel to it.

The story begins at the point where Hatchet has Brian recover a survival pack from the submerged aircraft. Here he does not activate the emergency transmitter inside it, so no beacon is sent, no pilot picks it up and nobody comes for him, and he stays on at the lake as the weather turns.

Most of the book is the work of getting through a northern winter with what he already has. Brian builds a shelter that will hold out the cold, makes snowshoes so that he can travel over deep snow, and reworks his bow until it is powerful enough to bring down bigger game. He is confronted by a bear, and he befriends and names a skunk that settles near his camp. The series continues with Brian's Return and Brian's Hunt.