Since it was first published in 1987, the story of thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson's survival following a plane crash has become a modern classic. Stranded in the desolate wilderness, Brian uses his instincts and his hatchet to stay alive for fifty-four harrowing days. This twentieth-anniversary edition of Hatchet contains a new introduction and sidebar commentary by Gary Paulsen, written especially for this volume. Drew Willis's detailed pen-and-ink illustrations complement the descriptions in the text and add a new dimension to the book. This handsome edition of the Newbery Honor book will be treasured by Hatchet fans as well as by readers encountering Brian's unforgettable story for the first time.

Amazon.com ReviewCelebrated outdoorsman-turned-author Gary Paulsen relates his lifelong romance with open water to teen readers with this short and salty memoir, Caught by the Sea: My Life on Boats. Paulsen packs adventure into every sentence of this 100-page book. He grabs our attention within the first few pages with a shocking childhood memory of watching from the saftey of a troopship as sharks attacked plane-wreck victims. Strangely, this doesn't scare Paulsen off as much as it challenges him to conquer the ocean's power. He remembers disastrous first sailing attempts, unsteady vessels, and frightening tropical storms that reminded him of his frail mortality. Still, he fondly recalls that every boat he ever knew had valuable lessons to impart: "To show me the sea. To show me myself. And never, ever look back." Though some of the stories are told out of context, and he often takes for granted that his audience has some background knowledge of shipboard vocabulary, fans of Paulsen's wildly popular survivor tales will no doubt be caught by this one as well. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer HubertFrom School Library JournalGr 7 Up-On the coattails of Guts (Delacorte, 2001) comes another collection of Paulsen's autobiographical vignettes, this time about sailing. His love for the sea began at age seven, aboard a troopship headed to the Philippine Islands. A plane crashed into the water and Paulsen watched as sharks attacked the women and children. Though gruesome, the account is typical of the author's unaffected, matter-of-fact writing style. The rest of the stories are dull in comparison, however, as Paulsen chronicles his experiences with various sailboats over the years. He tries to define the sailing terminology as he uses it, but it is complicated stuff for landlubbers. His writing is adult in tone and he often looks back and reflects on his adventures. The passages about food, reminiscent of those in Father Water, Mother Woods (Doubleday, 1995), are better. When he describes the taste of double-stuffed Oreo cookies, readers taste them, too. It is quintessential Paulsen to describe the number one law of the sea: "If given a chance a container of oatmeal will open, mix with a container of coffee grounds, further combine itself with eight or ten gallons of sea water and then find its way into your sleeping bag." At book's end, Paulsen refers to his age and current heart condition but dangles a carrot in front of readers about a sailing trip around Cape Horn. Stay tuned.Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NYCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

A middle grade memoir from a living literary legend, giving readers a new perspective on the origins of Gary Paulsen's famed survival stories.His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival stories. Now, beloved author Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments from his turbulent childhood as his own original survival story. If not for his summer escape from a shockingly neglectful Chicago upbringing to a North Woods homestead at age five, there never would have been a Hatchet. Without the encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book at age thirteen, he may never have become a reader. And without his desperate teenage enlistment in the Army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller.A moving and enthralling story of grit and growing up, Gone to the Woods is perfect for newcomers to the voice and lifelong fans alike, from the acclaimed author at his rawest and realest.

From the legendary author of Hatchet, a laugh-out-loud middle-grade romp about a boy, his free-thinking dad, and the puppy-training pamphlet that turns their summer upside down.Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his father's single-minded pursuit of an off-the-grid existence. His dad may be brilliant, but dumpster-diving for food, scouring through trash for salvageable junk, and wearing clothes fully sourced from garage sales is getting old. Increasingly worried about what schoolmates and a certain girl at his new school might think of his circumstances—and encouraged by his off-kilter best friend—Carl adopts the principles set forth in a randomly discovered puppy-training pamphlet to "retrain" his dad's mindset . . . a crackpot experiment that produces some very unintentional results.This is a fierce and funny novel about family and untangling some of the ties that bind from middle-grade master Gary Paulsen.

This stunning novel from the survival story master, set along a rugged coastline centuries ago, does for the ocean what Hatchet does for the woods, as it relates the story of a young person's battle to stay alive against the odds, where the high seas meet a coastal wilderness. When a deadly plague reaches the small fish camp where he lives, an orphan named Leif is forced to take to the water in a cedar canoe. He flees northward, following a wild, fjord-riven shore, navigating from one danger to the next, unsure of his destination. But the deeper into his journey he paddles, the closer he comes to his truest self as he connects to "the heartbeat of the ocean . . . the pulse of the sea."With hints of Nordic mythology and an irresistible narrative pull, Northwind is Gary Paulsen at his captivating, adventuresome best.

Find 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 mysterious beam of light appears.  The trip turns into a terrifying and thrilling adventure when the light beam transports Mark into another time, and what appears to be another planet!  Although he is searching for his way back to earth, in the meantime he is forced to make a life in this unknown world.  He meets primitive tribes and shares the joy of human bonds, but this end of isolation in the new world also brings war and a struggle for power.From the Hardcover edition.While backpacking in the desert, thirteen-year-old Mark falls into a tube of blue light and is transported into a more primitive world, where he must use his knowledge and skills to survive.

A remarkable novel about one of the most important and loving relationships in Gary Paulsen's life.The wonderful grandmother seen through the eyes of a young boy in The Cookcamp reaches out to him at 14, offering him a haven from his harsh and painful family life. She arranges a summer job for him on the farm where she is a cook for Olaf and Gunnar, elderly brothers. Farm life offers the camaraderie and routine of hard work, good food, peaceful evenings spent making music together, even learning to dance. Life with Alida gives the boy strength and faith in himself, drawing him away from the edge and into the center of life.From the Hardcover edition.

On a moonlit winter night, a team of dogs pulls a sled, taking the narrator and readers on a wondrous ride through the snow, into and out of the woods. It is a ride you'll wish would never end.Through this exquisite prose poem, Gary Paulsen shares the joy, the beauty, and the grandeur of the outdoors. With his joyous text and Ruth Wright Paulsen's exuberant and expressive illustrations, Dogteam is a celebration of nature, a dance that invites everyone to join in.

It's spy vs. spy when Amos is mistaken for a government double agent and give a top-secret assignment. He's got the trench coat, he's got the dark sunglasses, he's go that smooth and debonair James Bond way about him. Now all he needs is Dunc to bail him out!Join best friends Dunc and Amos as they try a little espionage, Culpepper style!

Because of his success surviving alone in the wilderness for fifty-four days, fifteen-year-old Brian, profoundly changed by his time in the wild, is asked to undergo a similar experience to help scientists learn more about the psychology of survival. Sequel to Hatchet .

In the old days there were songs...Something is bothering Russel Susskit. He hates waking up to the sound of his father's coughing, the smell of diesel oil, the noise of snow machines starting up. Only Oogruk, the shaman who owns the last team of dogs in the village, understands Russel's longing for the old ways and the songs that celebrated them. But Oogruk cannot give Russel the answers he seeks; the old man can only prepare him for what he must do alone. Driven by a strange, powerful dream of a long-ago self and by a burning desire to find his own song, Russel takes Oogruk's dogs on an epic journey of self-discovery that will change his life forever.

Fourteen-year-old 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 alone, except for two horses, four dogs, and all those sheep. John doesn't feel up to the task, but he hopes that if he can accomplish it, he will finally please his father. But John finds that the adage "things just to sheep" is true when the river floods, coyotes attack, and one dog's feet get cut. Through it all he must rely on his own resourcefulness, ingenuity, and talents to survive this summer in the haymeadow. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Survival in the wilderness--Gary Paulsen writes about it so powerfully in his novels Hatchet and The River because he's lived it. These essays recount his adventures alone and with friends, along the rivers and in the woods of northern Minnesota. There, fishing and hunting are serious business, requiring skill, secrets, and inspiration. Luck, too--not every big one gets away.This book takes readers through the seasons, from the incredible taste of a spring fish fresh from the smokehouse, to the first sight of the first deer, to the peace of the winter days spent dreaming by the stove in a fishhouse on the ice. In Paulsen's north country, every expedition is a major one, and often hilarious.Once again Gary Paulsen demonstrates why he is one of America's most beloved writers, for he shows us fishing and hunting as pleasure, as art, as companionship, and as sources of life's deepest lessons.From the Paperback edition.