Gary Paulsen Biography

“I would not be a pressed flower in a book after all” (Kidd 103). Sue Monk Kidd unveils the harsh abuse the slaves encountered and the resilience of both Handful and Sarah in her novel, The Invention of Wings. Handful’s witty attitude and intelligence aided her escape from slavery. Red thread and a spirit tree symbolized Handful’s hope that one day she will be free. Sarah’s compassion and strong-willed heart aided her into becoming an abolitionist. Sarah’s silver button symbolizes her a voice to speak against the cruelty of the world. Both girls resilience and determination developed the themes of strong friendships can change the world and the bitter abuses of the past can spark knowledge and equality.

In addition, this book succeeds in terms of depicting real life situations to young children. As presented in the story, Reed’s father lost his job; thus, causing him to move back in with

In “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins, adults provide easy explanations for children when confronted with harsh realities. Both works explore the use of white lies to respond to children’s fear and curiosity in an attempt to preserve their innocence. However, the writers employ literary devices that convey these concepts in different ways. While Wilbur presents parents’ well-intentioned untruths as beneficial to a child’s peace of mind, Collins reveals the serious consequences of a teacher’s trivial fabrications.

Furthermore, the illustrations paint a beautiful picture that I like to think is an insight into a child’s mind, which I is a key element in this book and what makes it so great. Since the book is narrated by a child the intentional simplicity of the words and the controlled chaos that is the illustrations breathes unadulterated life into a rather normal children’s book.

When readers read a story written by an author they will usually think that the author likes to read books and is what led the author to writing a book. William Goldman said, “As a child, I had no Interest in reading” (Goldman 3), this can lead readers to imagining the author as a young child rather than an adult not wanting to read a book. When Readers imagine the author as a young child the image imagined can give a better sense of how the author felt as a young child. The imagination of a child giving the reader a picture to think about is less complex than that of a adult giving a reader a picture to think about.

The story’s striking details and thought provoking ideas made it unpopular among the Port Washington school board. It should be read in high schools, not be challenged for its one description of a time bomb. The book is memorable and mature students can see past the image to reflect on the book's true message of

In 1993, Gary Paulsen wrote the book Nightjohn. Nightjohn is a book set in the 1850s, during slavery. It shows the thoughts and views of a twelve year old girl named Sarny. Sarny is a black slave girl, who is uneducated, malnourished, and living life the best she can. Suddenly, a man by the name of Nightjohn is brought to the plantation. Sarny traded tobacco for learning the alphabet from Nightjohn. Nightjohn ran away one night, and was thought to never return, but actually he created a hidden, underground school. Nightjohn could have been inspired by two interviews, Uncle Billy McCrea’s and Walter Calloway’s.

Gary Paulsen, was born on May 17, 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Although he didn’t have an idyllic childhood, and was unsuccessful in his school days, he still managed to become a successful author. Paulsen has written over 40 books and 200 magazines, earning many awards. Some awards that Paulsen has received are three of the Newbery Honor Book awards, the IRA-CBC Children's Choice award , and the ALA Best Book for Young Adults award. Paulsen was also honored in 1991 by the National Council of Teachers of English. For his contributions to young adult literature, Paulsen was given their ALAN Award.

“I sail, run dogs, ride horses, play professional poker and tell stories about the stuff I've been through. And I'm still a romantic; I still want Bambi to make it out of the fire” said famous author Gary Paulsen. Paulsen definitely uses the experiences and adventures in his life to create a book full of excitement. Paulsen is best known for writing his books about survival and events that happen in nature. After taking a closer look at the life of Gary Paulsen,you will realize that he deserves recognition as an American Author.

The main character in the story Bass Reeves written by Gary Paulsen, Bass reeves is a little boy.

Before an author writes their book, they need to know what the purpose of the book is. Gary Paulsen’s style and purpose was to entertain by giving touches of drama and sadness during the story. Brian Robeson’s suspenseful situations like when he saw the bear, was attacked by the moose, when his shelter was destroyed by the tornado, and more all created different feelings and emotions to young readers. Many of these situations created a scared what-will-happen-next? approach. Paulsen created many feelings and emotions for readers, which helped make the book even more intriguing and a great source for pure

For summer reading, I read Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, and Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. I chose to do this report about Hatchet, because I felt that it had more impact on me as I was reading it. I also like reading survival themed novels. Hatchet is a story about survival. 13 year old Brian Robson, a city boy, gets his whole life turned around when a plane that he is flying in crashes, leaving him stranded in the harsh Alaskan wilderness, with nothing but a hatchet to aid him in his quest for survival.

Teare uses two main thesis throughout her paper, “ I will argue that the stories the books tell, as well as the stories we’re telling about them, enact both our fantasies and our fears of children’s literature and publishing in the context of twenty-first century commercial and technological culture (pg.

Children’s novels began not just as tools just for the benefit of literacy, but as ideal characters to model behavior. In the 19th century the American Sunday School Union began to create books for children that would help develop morally (Foreman, History of Adolescent Literature). These literature books had obvious religious themes and presented didactic lessons meant to show children the consequences of failing to be proper. A perfect example of this kind of novel is Hubert Lee: Or How a Boy May do Good, by Herbert Lee. The very introduction of this book announces its intentions, “The author trusts [this book] will be read with interest, and every child will resolve, by God’s help, to ‘go and do likewise.’”(i, Lee). The idea was that a novel was to not be solely for pleasure, but it should do something to advance the children’s idea of how to act in the world. This idea was developed further to fit

Despite the variety of genres that Philip Pullman has explored from historical fiction to fantasy which have lead to a plethora of criticism, Pullman writes enchanting tales first and foremost for his audience’s enjoyment. In an interview discussing the teaching of children’s literature Pullman ‘humbly requests to let the children enjoy the books before doing anything else, before counting semicolons, looking at specific adjectives etc. His books are written to enchant, delight and beguile the read to be enjoyed after, not during.’ (Scholastic). Margo Jefferson praises his writing saying “If you are going to preface your books with passages from Milton, Rilke and John Ashbery, then you had better write well. Pullman does. His prose has texture and flexibility, like excellent fabric. And he gives us so much. Suspense of course, but such degrees of pleasure, excitement (the excitement of meeting characters, not just adventurers) and grief” (Jefferson). While he incorporates various sophisticated literary elements in each of his pieces, his works are for those who pick up his books despite their ability to reference Milton or the Bible. Even though he is Oxford educated like Tolkien and Lewis, his unique upbringing has molded his writing to starkly contrast his writing from that of his colleagues. In The Broken Bridge, Clockwork, and The Golden Compass, one can appreciate the unique experience Philip Pullman presents to his readers through his literary allusions, themes and