Ever wonder what would have happened to Brian Robeson after the events of the novel Hatchet?  In The River, author Gary Paulsen imagines one possible scenario.  How would Brian adjust to returning to human society after living in isolation in the wilderness for so long?  If offered the chance to do it all over again to try to help others, would he take the risk?  And what happens when the worst case scenario becomes reality for Brian once again?
This class will meet once a week for three weeks to discuss the novel The River by Gary Paulsen and various reading strategies that readers use to increase their understanding of a text.  It will be expected that students will have read the first book in the series, Hatchet, before enrolling in this course.  Each student will be expected to have access to a copy of The River in order to complete assigned readings in advance of and effectively participate in their next class.

A general outline of what will be covered in each class is as follows:

Week 1:
-	Students will be expected to have read chapters 1-7 of The River in advance of the first class
-       Introductions and class expectations defined
-	General review of reading strategies we will be using in this course
-       Discussion of events and vocabulary words in the first five chapters, including a quick review of the events in the first novel
-	Chapters 7-15 of The River assigned to be read for next class

Week 2:
-	Students share their thoughts and discuss what happened in chapters 7-15
-	Discussion and examples of how reading strategies were applied 
-       Vocabulary words from these chapters reviewed
-	Chapters 16-24 of The River assigned to be read for next class

Week 3:
-	Students share their thoughts and discuss what happened in the concluding chapters of the book
-	Discussion and examples of how reading strategies were applied 
-       Vocabulary words from these chapters reviewed
-	Overall opinions of the book and its conclusion will be examined
-	As a concluding activity students may compose their own review of the novel with their own unique rating system and recommendations