knitter22 's review for:

Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen

4.0

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I've always appreciated Gary Paulsen's books and writing, and my appreciation has grown and deepened after reading Gone to the Woods. Even though my youngest son never grew to be an adult reader, I don't think I could have gotten him through elementary and middle school without Paulsen's Hatchet series, the Tucket Adventures, Soldier's Heart, and The Rifle. Anytime a book report was required I always knew I could find a Gary Paulsen book that would appeal to my son, and in Gone to the Woods Paulsen recounts his life and we learn how extraordinary it is that he became a writer. Told in the third person so it reads almost like one of his works of fiction, Paulsen writes about turning points in his life — being shipped off to his aunt and uncle's farm when he was 5 and getting a chance to experience unconditional love, meeting his father for the first time at 7 years old in the Philippines, as a runaway teenager in the woods in North Dakota trying to avoid his alcoholic parents, and his military service. Thankfully, Paulsen discovers the public library and a very kind librarian who helps him become a storyteller.

He had a difficult life, filled with neglect and shocking circumstances, but this is one of Gary Paulsen's best survival stories.

"What the hell. Might as well write something down."