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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Gary Paulsen talking about a librarian changing his life
Really good read. I've heard Gary Paulsen speak at a reading conference and knew a bit about his childhood. It was fascinating to read about. He writes so simply about a difficult childhood and how it contributed to the man he became. I will be buying this for my classroom.
I never had to read hatchet in school. After reading Gary Paulsen's biography, I think I want too. Mr. Paulsen crafts a story that tells his own journey into manhood in a truly masterful way.
Parts of this were incredible. I feel a new appreciation for the difficulties Paulsen faced in life and I have a new appreciation for the personal experiences that inspired Hatchet and his other books. This is written as a 3rd person perspective story moreso than a typical memoir with true reflection and processing. It reminded me a little of a Richard Peck story.
Also - this is marketed as middle grade, but I would recommend to older students (6th+) and/or more mature readers because of the violence and war situations. Paulsen does not hold back explaining how he was in an abusive household, had to carry around makeshift weapons to protect himself on the streets, and how Malaysian soldiers were killed in front of him.
Also - this is marketed as middle grade, but I would recommend to older students (6th+) and/or more mature readers because of the violence and war situations. Paulsen does not hold back explaining how he was in an abusive household, had to carry around makeshift weapons to protect himself on the streets, and how Malaysian soldiers were killed in front of him.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
When our Newbery Committee called Paulsen to inform his that we had awarded Dogsong a Newbery Honor, his first reaction was to swear, a very human response for which he apologized profusely. Having read this account of his rough childhood and youth, I'm only surprised he didn't use even stronger language.
After he is sent by his mother alone at age five on a complicated and lengthy train ride from Chicago to the wilds of northern Minnesota, he ends up with his aunt and uncle and the first secure home he's known. He writes with great detail about how it felt, both emotionally and physically, to be safe and loved for the very first time (though his grandmother is somewhere in the background). When he's wrenched away from there on a moment's notice by his alcoholic mother, ending up in the ruins of post-war Manila with her and his equally alcoholic father, whom he's never met before, things go badly wrong. He gradually learns how to live on his own, finding a warm corner to sleep in and hustling for dimes and quarters on the streets. When he writes about hitchhiking around the country in his early teens, I wanted to shake him and say, why aren't you headed back to Minnesota?? And he never speaks of his feelings about his parents. But he does write movingly about how a librarian helped to save his life, something he's mentioned before that clearly meant everything to him. Wrenching and absorbing.
After he is sent by his mother alone at age five on a complicated and lengthy train ride from Chicago to the wilds of northern Minnesota, he ends up with his aunt and uncle and the first secure home he's known. He writes with great detail about how it felt, both emotionally and physically, to be safe and loved for the very first time (though his grandmother is somewhere in the background). When he's wrenched away from there on a moment's notice by his alcoholic mother, ending up in the ruins of post-war Manila with her and his equally alcoholic father, whom he's never met before, things go badly wrong. He gradually learns how to live on his own, finding a warm corner to sleep in and hustling for dimes and quarters on the streets. When he writes about hitchhiking around the country in his early teens, I wanted to shake him and say, why aren't you headed back to Minnesota?? And he never speaks of his feelings about his parents. But he does write movingly about how a librarian helped to save his life, something he's mentioned before that clearly meant everything to him. Wrenching and absorbing.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
A remarkable story that means a lot to an enthusiastic formerly young reader of Paulsen's work.