Taking A Closer Look
An american author of Young Adult Fiction, Gary Paulsen is best known for writing coming of age stories about the wilderness. Though he is author to over 200 books, this website will focus on two main series of Paulsen's: Brian's Saga and The Alida Series.
Brian's Saga
Hatchet (1987) + The River (Hatchet: The Return) (1991) + Brian's Winter (Hatchet: Winter) (1996) +Brian's Return (Hatchet: The Call) (1999) + Brian's Hunt (2003)
Brian's Saga is a set of five books beginning with one of most well-know and awarded: Hatchet.
Hatchet
In this book, readers are introduced to Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy travelling by one-engine plane to visit his father in Canada. When the piolot of the plane has a heart attack, the plane crashes leaving Brian as the lone survor in the desolate wilderness. Readers follow Brian as he survives fifty-four days with only his instincts and hatchet to keep him alive.
The River
Once again Brian's skills are put to the test! Two years after surviving the wilderness with nothing but a hatchet, the government is asking Brian to return to the wilderness and do it again. The hope? Brian's survival skills will be observed by Derek Holtzer, a government psychologist, in order to teach astronauts and the military Brian's survival skills. But when a freak accident lands Derek in a coma, Brian is determined to get him to a doctor. Their only hope is for Brian to build a raft and follow his map, traveling down the river to a trading post and find help.
Brian's Winter
At the conclusion of Hatchet, Brian Robeson is rescued, but what would have happened if he hadn't? Brian's Winter pickes up where Hatchet may have ended if Brian was not rescued and as the days stretch past 54, he faces his biggest enemy: a northern winter in the wilderness.
Brian works hard to sharpen his survival skills in order to survive, making snow shoes, a stronger bow, and resolves confrontations with a bear. Eventually, Brian comes face to face with the first people he has seen in months: a family of Cree trappers, the Smallhorns, who help him find his way home.
Brian's Return
After returning to high school and civilization, Brian finds it difficult to adapt and find happiness in this world. He longs for the wilderness - the one place he feels at home. After sharing his feelings with a counselor, Caleb, it is suggested that Brian revisit the northern woods.
This time around, Brian brings supplies with him, but plans to survive alone and visit the family that helped him find his way home in Brian's Winter, the Smallhorns.
Brian's Hunt
After realizing he is happier in the wilderness, sixteen-year-old Brian continues his life in the northern woods, catching and cooking his own food and living his life amongst nature.
One day, while out canoeing, Brian finds a wounded, domesticated dog, and fears the perpetrator has harmed the dog's family, too. Concerned, he decides to check on the friends he made from Brian's Winter, the Smallhorns, only to find that a bear had killed the parents, and chased their daughter, Susan into hiding. Brian decides to avenge the killing of the Smallhorns by setting out to hunt the bear. Before long, Brain realizes the bear tracks he is following have circled, and the bear is hunting him. Brian decides to wait for the bear, and soon faces yet another fight for survival.
The Alida Series
The Cookcamp (1991) + Alida's Song (1999) + The Quilt (2004)
The Alida Series is a collection of three books that tell of a little boy and his grandmother, Alida. Though all three books are told in third person, Paulsen states that they are almost entirely autobiographical.
The Cookcamp
During World War II, a 5-year-old boy is misplaced while his father is overseas supporting the war and mother is too busy to care for him. He is sent to live with his grandmother, Alida, who works at a cookcamp serving the 9 men working to build a road through the woods. The boy misses his mother, but enjoys his new home, learning how to spit and ride tractors.
As the boy and his grandmother get closer, he mentions "Uncle Casey", his mother's boyfriend. Alida writes seven letters that she mails to his mother "good and hard"and the boy begins to wonder what will become of him.
Alida's Song
The fourteen-year-old boy's wonderful grandmother, Alida, reaches out to him and offers 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 the boy needs and life with Alida gives him strength and faith in himself, drawing him away from the edge and into the center of life.
The Quilt
A six-year-old 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 to run the farms. There's plenty for the boy to do — trying to help with the chores, getting to know the dog, and the horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. But when his cousin Kristina goes into labor, he can't do a thing. Instead, the house fills with women to help, wait, and work on a quilt together.
This is no common, everyday quilt, but one that contains all the stories of the boy's family. The quilt tells the truth, past and future: of happiness, courage, and pain; of the greatest joy, and the greatest loss. And as they wait, the women share these memorable stories with the boy.