Winter Has Come

I know that winter doesn't technically start until December 21, but winter to me starts when the first snow is on the ground.  That was this morning.  And I couldn't help but think of Brian's Winter when I looked out the bedroom window and saw the snow on the trees.   When Paulsen wrote Hatchet and The River he received a ton of letters from kids, sometimes as many as 200 a day.  In an author's note before the book, he explains that the readers were mad that Brian didn't have to go through the winter and they wondered what it would have been like if he hadn't been found before the winter came.  Brian's Winter takes place right after Hatchet, before the rescue, as if Brian hadn't been found and now had to make it through the snow and ice of the changed season.  A great idea and a great addition to the series.  I am already listening to the next one, Brian's Return.