Gary Paulsen Popular Books
Gary Paulsen Biography & Facts
Gary James Paulsen (May 17, 1939 – October 13, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens. Early life Gary Paulsen was born on May 17, 1939, in Minneapolis to Oscar Paulsen and Eunice Paulsen, née Moen. His father was a career army officer who departed soon after Gary’s birth to join General Patton’s staff. Gary next saw his father at age 7 when he and his mother sailed to the Philippines to join him at his army base. He and his mother lived in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. When Gary was 4, his mother took him to live in Chicago. Before World War II ended, she sent him to live with relatives on a farm for a year. He wrote some fragmented autobiographical works describing his early life, such as Eastern Sun, Winter Moon: An Autobiographical Odyssey. The book, which is written in the first person, begins when he was seven, living in Chicago with his mother. Paulsen described several traumatic occurrences that transpired during the three years that are chronicled by the book. For example, one day while his mother was napping, Gary sneaked outside to play. There a vagrant snatched him and attempted to molest him, but his mother suddenly appeared on the scene and beat the man. Paulsen reported an affair his mother had in Eastern Sun. He also discussed his mother's alcoholism. When World War II ended, Gary's father sent for him and his mother to come to join him in the Philippines, where he was stationed. A great part of the book Eastern Sun, Winter Moon is dedicated to the voyage by naval vessels (liberty ships) to the Philippines. During the trip, Gary witnessed a plane crash. He, his mother, and the people who were also being transported on this liberty ship looked on as many of the airplane's passengers were killed or maimed by the sharks that would follow the ship consuming waste. His mother, the only woman aboard, helped the ship's corpsman care for the surviving victims. After arriving in Hawaii, according to Paulsen, his mother began an affair with the corpsman. In elementary school, he was quite deficient at literacy class and struggled with it. The accounts in Eastern Sun ended when Gary and his mother left Manila. Bits and pieces of Gary's adolescence can be cobbled together in Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books. In that book, Paulsen discusses how he survived between the ages of twelve and fourteen back in Minnesota. He barely mentions his parents except to say that they were too busy being drunk to stock the refrigerator. He worked several jobs during this time, including setting pins at a bowling alley, delivering newspapers, and working as a farmhand. He bought his own school supplies and a .22 single-shot rifle, which he used to hunt for sustenance. Eventually, he gave up the rifle and manufactured his own bow and arrows, which he used to hunt deer. Paulsen graduated from Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. He attended Bemidji State University, but dropped out. He served in the U.S. Army between 1959 and 1962, attaining the rank of sergeant while working with missiles. His army service brought him to New Mexico for a while, a place in which he later chose to settle. Careers Much of what is known about Paulsen's life was revealed in the prologues and epilogues of his own books. In The Quilt, one of a series of three novels based on summers spent with his grandmother, Paulsen recounts what a tremendous influence his grandmother had on him. It is difficult to say how factual an autobiography The Quilt is intended to be, as Paulsen is supposed to have been six years old in this story and yet he made references to events found in Eastern Sun, which is supposed to have been set later. He also refers to himself, in this book, in the third person and only as "the boy". Much of Paulsen's work features the outdoors and highlights the importance of nature. He often uses "coming of age" themes in his novels, where a character masters the art of survival in isolation as a rite of passage to manhood and maturity. He was critical of technology and has been called a Luddite. According to Paulsen's New York Times obituary, Hatchet (1986), is probably his best-known novel. Other well known works include Dogsong (1985) and The Winter Room (1989). The ALA Margaret Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for a "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". Paulsen won the annual award in 1997, when the panel cited six books published from 1983 to 1990: Dancing Carl, Hatchet (first in the series), The Crossing, The Winter Room, Canyons, and Woodsong. The citation noted that "[t]he theme of survival is woven throughout, whether it is living through a plane crash or living in an abusive, alcoholic household" and emphasized Hatchet in particular for "encompassing a survival theme in all its aspects, physical as well as psychological". Three of Paulsen's books were runners-up for the Newbery Medal, the premier ALA annual book award for children's literature: Dogsong, Hatchet, and The Winter Room. Personal life Paulsen’s first two marriages ended in divorce. In the mid-1960s, Paulsen moved to Taos, New Mexico, where he met his third wife Ruth Wright. In 1971, Paulsen married Ruth, an illustrator of children’s books. Paulsen had two children from his first marriage, Lynn and Lance, and a son Jim from his third marriage with Ruth Wright. Although a successful author, Paulsen said he chose to live modestly. He lived throughout New Mexico, including in Santa Fe, La Luz, White Oaks, and Tularosa. He also spent time living on a houseboat on the Pacific Ocean. In 1983, Paulsen entered the 1,150-mile (1,850 km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and placed 41st out of 54 finishers, with an official time of 17 days, 12 hours, 38 minutes, and 38 seconds. In 1990, suffering from heart disease, Paulsen decided to give up dog sledding, which he described as the most difficult decision he had ever made. Paulsen would spend more than a decade sailing the Pacific before getting back into dog sledding in 2003. According to his keynote speech on October 13, 2007, at the Sinclair Lewis writing conference in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, he still intended to compete in the Iditarod. He is listed in the "Withdrawn/Scratched" section of the 1985 and 2006 Iditarod. Paulsen was an outdoorsman (a hunter and trapper), who maintained a 40-acre (160,000 m2) parcel north of Willow, Alaska, where he bred and trained sled dogs for the Iditarod. Death Paulsen died from cardiac arrest at his home in Tularosa, New Mexico, on October 13, 2021, aged 82. Bibliography Reference.... Discover the Gary Paulsen popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gary Paulsen books.
Best Seller Gary Paulsen Books of 2024
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Liar, Liar
Gary PaulsenKevin doesn't mean to make trouble when he lies. He's just really good at it, and it makes life so much easier. But as his lies pile up, he finds himself in bigand funnytrouble wit...
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Cosmic Banditos
A. C. WeisbeckerSoon to be a major motion picture starring John Cusack!Mr. Quark is a downonhis luck potsmuggler hiding out in the mountains of Colombia with his dog, High Pockets, and a small ban...
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Starting from Scratch
Rita Mae BrownFrom the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo, here is a writers' manual as provocative, frank, and funny as her fiction. Unlike most...
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The Haymeadow
Gary PaulsenFourteenyearold John Barron is asked, like his father and grandfather before him, to spend the summer taking care of their sheep in the haymeadow. Six thousand sheep. John will be ...
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How Angel Peterson Got His Name
Gary PaulsenWHEN YOU GROW up in a small town in the north woods, you have to make your own excitement. High spirits, idiocy, and showing off for the girls inspire Gary Paulsen and his friends ...
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Danger on Midnight River
Gary PaulsenSlow learner Daniel Martin escapes peer teasing by spending most of his time outdoors, and when a van crash plunges him and a gang of bullies in the river, Daniel must choose betwe...
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Lawn Boy
Gary PaulsenOne day I was 12 years old and broke. Then Grandma gave me Grandpa's old riding lawnmower. I set out to mow some lawns. More people wanted me to mow their lawns. And more and more....
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The Transall Saga
Gary PaulsenFind yourself in another world in The Transall Saga, the latest adventure from Gary Paulsen:Mark's solo camping trip to the desert begins as any other camping trip, until a mysteri...
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The White Giraffe
Lauren St. JohnWhen Martine’s home in England burns down, killing her parents, she must go to South Africa to live on a wildlife game preserve, called Sawubona, with the grandmother she didn’t kn...
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Mudshark
Gary PaulsenMudshark is the goto guy for any mysteries that need solving. Lost your shoe? Can’t find your homework? Ask Mudshark. That is, until the Psychic Parrot takes up residence in the sc...
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Nightjohn
Gary Paulsen"To know things, for us to know things, is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it's bad for them. They thinks we want what they got . . . . That's why they d...
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Father Water, Mother Woods
Gary Paulsen & Ruth Wright PaulsenSurvival in the wildernessGary Paulsen writes about it so powerfully in his novels Hatchet and The River because he's lived it. These essays recount his adventures alone...
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Rabbit Boss
Thomas SanchezThe legendary, epic novel tells the story of four generations of the Washo in Nevada and Eastern Californiaa story of dreams, dying, the loss of power, death and apotheosis.
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How to Train Your Dad
Gary PaulsenFrom the legendary author of Hatchet, a laughoutloud misadventure about a boy, his freethinking dad, and the puppytraining pamphlet that turns their summer upside down.Twelveyearol...
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Road Trip
Gary Paulsen & Jim PaulsenA summer adventure you'll never forget, from a beloved Newbery Honor winning author!Dad and Ben haven't been getting along lately, and Dad hopes a road trip to rescue a border coll...
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Blood Mountain
James Preller"Perfect for fans of adventure novels by Jean Craighead George, Peg Kehret, and Gary Paulsen."Carter and his older sister Grace thought the hike with their dad and their dog would ...
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Call Me Francis Tucket
Gary PaulsenFrancis Tucket now feels more confident that he can handle just about anything. A year ago, on the wagon train, he was kidnapped from his family by a Pawnee hunting party. Then he ...
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The Legend of Bass Reeves
Gary PaulsenBorn into slavery, Bass Reeves became the most successful US Marshal of the Wild West.Many "heroic lawmen" of the Wild West, familiar to us through television and film, were actual...
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Field Trip
Gary Paulsen & Jim PaulsenFatherandson writing team Gary and Jim Paulsen pick up where their Road Trip left off. Ben has been invited to try out for a special hockey academy. But Dad wants Ben to catch up t...
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The Quilt
Gary Paulsen1944. Wartime. A sixyearold boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother Alida in a small town near the Canadian border. With the men all gone off to fight, the women are left...
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Red Rover
Deirdre McNamerDeirdre McNamer has won praise for the intelligence, beauty, precision, and breadth of her fiction. This beautifully crafted, farranging novel of idealism laid waste and the haunti...
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Paintings from the Cave
Gary PaulsenMeet Jake who lives in a neighborhood controlled by street violence and fear. He meets a sculptor across the street, and his eyes are opened to another world. Or Jojo,who's c...
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Distress Signal
Mary E. LambertIn this edgeofyourseat survival story, four classmates are stranded in a desert wilderness after a flash flood separates them from the rest of their grade. Can they make it to safe...
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Sarny
Gary PaulsenMany readers of Nightjohn have wanted to know what happened to Sarny, the young slave whom Nightjohn taught to read. Here is Sarny's story, from the moment she leaves the plantatio...
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Crush
Gary PaulsenReaders met the comical Kevin in Liar, Liar and Flat Broke. Kevin gets serious about Tina Zabinski, the Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Finally, finally, he's worked up his...
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Shipwrecked
Mary Alice MonroeJake, Macon, and Lovie fight to survive at sea in this third highstakes adventure in the middle grade, New York Times bestselling The Islanders series by Mary Alice Monroe!Jake Pot...
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Nothing Lost
John Gregory DunneA grisly racial murder in what news commentators insist on calling “the heartland.” A feeding frenzy of mass media and seamy politics. An illicit love affair with the potential to ...
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Alone
Megan E. FreemanA New York Times bestseller!Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novelinverse from a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet tells the sto...
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Canyons
Gary PaulsenTwo boys, separated by the canyons of time and two vastly different cultures, face the challenges by which they will become men.Coyote Runs, an Apache boy, takes part in his first ...
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The River
Gary PaulsenThe government sends Brian back to the Canadian wilderness in this beloved followup to the awardwinning classic Hatchet from threetime Newbery Honorwinning author Gary Paulsen! ...
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Guts
Gary PaulsenGuess what Gary Paulsen was being kind to Brian. In Guts, Gary tells the real stories behind the Brian books, the stories of the adventures that inspired him to write Brian Robeso...
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LIGHTNING ON THE SUN
Robert BinghamFrom the highly acclaimed author of Pure Slaughter Value comes this latterday literary noir about an expat in Cambodia eager to get home but taking all the wrong turns.As...
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Woods Runner
Gary PaulsenSamuel, 13, spends his days in the forest, hunting for food for his family. He has grown up on the frontier of a British colony, America. Far from any town, or news of the war agai...
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Flat Broke
Gary PaulsenKevin struggled to overcome his knack for lying in Liar, Liar, and now he's back for another round of mayhem and misunderstandings in this financial comedy of errors. In Kevin, Gar...
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Masters of Disaster
Gary Paulsen“Let’s face facts: We may be the most boring twelveyearolds on the planet.” Henry Mosley decides that he and his pals Riley and Reed have got to liven things up. They need to ...
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Lawn Boy Returns
Gary PaulsenGary Paulsen’s funny followup to Lawn Boy is full of big surprises and big laughs. Lawn Boy says: The summer I was twelve, mowing lawns with Grandpa’s old riding mower turned ...