Medicine Walk

Medicine Walk (1985) is a Young Adult novel about survival. Dwight Henderson took time off from his practice to fly with his son Burr to a family gathering in Albuquerque. Since they had plenty of time, Dwight gave in to Burr's perennial request and deviated from his flight plan a bit to overfly the Apache Reservation. Then Dwight had a heart attack and set the Cessna down on sand within a gully. After the plane came to a halt, Burr discovered that the landing had been his father's last effort. When he checked Dwight's pulse, there was not even a flutter. Burr wanted to stay with the plane, but it was hidden by the rocks and trees and the radio was inoperable. He couldn't remove his father's body from the plane and the surrounding sand wouldn't have kept the scavengers from finding it. So he sealed the doors as best he could and prepared to walk out. This novel compares Burr's situation with the traditional medicine walk of an Apache boy. He had only a limited supply of food and water for a walk of at least forty linear miles and probably more like a hundred miles up and down and around the ridges, mesas and gullies. Although lacking the traditional Apache training for such walks, Burr had learned quite a bit from Nachito, the ranch foreman, as he trained his grandson Charlie. The morning runs with Charlie gave him more endurance. The bits and pieces of desert lore helped him to face rattlesnake and cougars without fear. And the training helped him to conserve water. Despite his continual protestations that he was not an Apache and not even an Indian, Burr had learned enough from the old Apache foreman to persevere despite his pains and emotions. He had visions of his father, mother and old Nachito that provided him with courage and wisdom. But he also had physical encounters as well as visions with various cougars; obviously the cougar was his totem. This novel reads like an eye-witness account of a desert journey with inadequate water, food and training. Burr's refusal to give up and die is a depiction of the best in human nature. This story is a very uplifting read. Highly recommended for Mayhar fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of courage and perseverance. -Bill Jordin

This book is about a boy that is 12 and goes on a adventure. When he is on the plain it crashes and his dad dies from a heartattack in the plain.He faces many challenges. The first thing he gets challenged by is what to bring from the palin. In the middle of the walk he bagan to run out of water.Then he saw a small forest,and found some water to drink. In the river he cooled himself down. He crawled up in a tree to protect himself from the cougar. In the end everything turns out fine. He wnow lives with his grandpa on the ranch.

I thought he was going to die of hunger. I thought he would be deprest because his father die. He was all alone in the desart with little food.He was seeing thing like cougers and water.He was encotering dimondback rattle snakes and cougers.

WE liked the story because he was realy brave when his dad died in the plane crash.Then he covered up the door with rocks and branch. We liked when he was walking in the desert and he was hallucinating animals like snackes and cougars.We were nervos because he ran out of food and water but then we were happy because he found a fish.Finaly we were scared that he would not make it alive but then he made it back home alive and if you were wondering who he lived with was nachtia and he's family.

If you enjoy Gary Paulson's survival tales in "Hatchet" (as well as his two sequels to the same book) then you will certainly enjoy this book. It shares many of the same themes of adolescent survival tales. The hero is separated from any adult guidance by a quirky twist of fate and soon realizes that his survival depends on all the upbringing he has been exposed to so far. The similarities between the Paulson trilogy and this book are many. Both main characters are adolescent boys, traveling by air in small planes to meet other family members. Both pilots die of heart attacks and the boy in each story must survive a terrifying landing after flying off course for hours. Both characters must dig deep inside themselves to overcome fear, terror and harsh elements. The biggest difference, though, is in Hatchet, Brian depends on memories from his school teachers to stay alive, while Burr, in Medicine Walk, relys on the teachings of Nachito, a Navajo foreman from the ranch where Burr lives. Medicine Walk is not a long book, and can easily be read in a few hours. It's a great story to illustrate self-reliance and survival. It's also a great book to share after or before the Hatchet stories, because it lends itself well to comparison and constrasting (that's for you teachers out there:-)I wish it were still in print, as I have given away the four copies I use to own, to former students who got hooked on reading after enjoying this book!