Brian's twin brother, Ryan

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

I have noticed that a lot of people have read the novel Hatchet so I have been thinking about inventing a character to add to the story. I have always kind of felt sorry for Brian all alone there in the Canadian wilderness with just a hatchet for company, so I would invent a twin brother for him named Ryan. In other words, Brian and Ryan were taking that airplane together on the way to see their father. It says in the novel that Brian is a little overweight, a bit of a couch potato. For Ryan's appearance, I would make him really athletic, maybe the captain of the soccer team. He is really muscular and full of energy. Brian watches nature shows all weekend long on TV while Ryan is a Boy Scout who goes on camping trips. Since Brian worries all the time about his mother, "the secret" and his parents, I would make Ryan not care about those kinds of things at all. He even makes fun of Brian for worrying about it. He thinks all about the girl he was going out with that summer whom he did not want to leave behind. Every time Brian tries something new - finding turtle eggs, fishing, building a shelter, trying to hunt for meat - I would make Ryan complain about how Brian is doing it all wrong. If Brian had a twin brother in the novel, then there would be a lot more dialogue and conflict. 

My explanation by William

"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury

Dear Teacher,
   Well, you want me to explain why I had the idea to lock that girl Margot in the closet. I feel like she asked for it. I tried to be nice to her, I really did! But she never wanted to play at recess; she just stayed on her own staring into space like she thought the sun was going to come out or something. It annoyed me the way she was so pale and sickly. And her stupid poems!! Admit it, Teacher, she was your little pet! She kept talking about her life back in Ohio which really got on my nerves. It was like she wanted us to know that everything was better on Earth than on Venus. She should have tried harder to get used to it here; it's not my fault if she is unhappy here. I heard somebody say that maybe her parents were going to take her back to Ohio so she could see the sun every day. That is NOT FAIR. 

OK, so she is going to get to move back to her home, so what is the big deal if she misses the sun just one afternoon? It's not like us. We are going to have to wait another seven years while she is going to get to see it every day. 

You can give me lunchtime detention if you want but what difference does it make since we have to stay inside all day anyway?
Don't expect me to apologize.

Signed,
William


P.S. I heard that it rains a lot in Ohio!