Gary Paulsen: A Life of Adventure and Survival

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Gary Paulsen: A Life of Adventure and Survival
Gary Paulsen’s whole life reflects his life of adventures and survival in the wilderness and his writing reflects his experiences. Living in the remote Minnesota woods Paulsen released Some Birds Don't Fly in 1966 (Trelease), and began his professional writing career and now has achieved three Newbery Honor Books with his novels - Hatchet, The Winter Room and Dogsong (Pendergast). Paulsen’s most popular book, Hatchet, a story of a young boy named Brian who lands a plane after the pilot dies from a heart attack and must survive in the remote wilderness alone, reflects some of Paulsen’s real life experiences when he used to answer emergency calls and deal with many heart attack victims (Paulsen 2). The plane crash in Hatchet was also created by Paulsen after he was on the scene of a plane crash were the pilots died (Paulsen 7). Gary Paulsen’s experiences from living alone in the Minnesota woods to racing dogs in the Iditarod race has been exposed and reflected in a majority his writings.
Gary Paulsen born May 17, 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Pendergast) was the third child of Oscar Paulsen who was an army officer and Eunice Paulsen (Pendergast). Paulsen would live nine years before he met his father for the first time as his father was in the army and spent a lot of time away from home during World War II (Pendergast). His father was an alcoholic and he got into many heated arguments with his father during his childhood but no child abuse has been reflected in his literature (Trelease). On the other hand Paulsen’s mother worked in munitions factories during much of his childhood which made Paulsen stay with his aunt or grandma often (Trelease). In Paulsen’s novel Harris and Me th...

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...eflected that.

Works Cited

Cornett, Jolain. "Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen." HARRIS AND ME by Gary Paulsen. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
"Hatchet by Gary Paulsen | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 13
May 2014.
McCormick, Annie. “Brian’s Winter.” Booklist 15 Apr. 2007: Biography in Context Web 4.
May 2014
Paulsen, Gary. Guts: The True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian Books. New York:
Delacorte, 2001. Print.
Pendergast Tom, "Gary Paulsen." St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers. Gale, 1999.
Biography in Context. Web May 7 2014.

Reutter, Vicki “ Gary Paulsen, Brian’s Hunt “ School Library Journal May 2014: 64.
Biography in Context. Web 3 May 2014
Trelease, Jim. "Gary Paulsen-author Profile-p.1." Gary Paulsen-author Profile-p.1. Reading
Tree Productions, 18 June 13. Web. 8 May 2014.

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