The River written by Gary Paulsen is a sequel to the book "The Hatchet." This book is about a boy named Brian Robeson who has .
survived months in the woods by himself and now goes back to the woods to show and teach people how to survive.
Three men have come to Brian's house to ask him if he would go back to the woods to survive again. They want to write everything down and make a "survival book" for other people to read. After much thought and talking his mom and dad into it, Brian decides to go. Derek Holtzer, a psychologist, will go with Brian to the woods and document everything Brian does to survive.
They are flown to the place that they have picked out. Brian decides that it wouldn't actually be surviving if they take all the equipment that Derek has packed, such as food and a tent. The only thing Brian agrees to keep is a radio to be used only in emergencies and for Derek to check in every week.
One of the first things that Brian and Derek did was to make a shelter. They also looked for food, and found some nuts and berries. Derek was writing everything down that Brian was doing. It almost seemed that everything was going really good, but then the storm hit. Brian could only hear the loud storm and see whenever lightening struck. It was then that he saw Derek reach for the radio and was struck by lightening. When Brian woke up, he couldn't remember anything. It was like he was in a daze. Then he saw Derek lying on his bed and realized that Derek had been struck by lightening. At first he thought Derek was dead, but he was just knocked out. After waiting for Derek to wake up, Brian realized that Derek was in a coma and needed help fast. When Brian remembered the radio, he tried to call for help. The lightening had struck the radio also, and it didn't work anymore. Brian had to think of something to do to keep Derek alive. He knew without food or water, Derek would die. He also knew that nobody would check on them for at least one week maybe ten days.