Gary Paulsen's Life And Accomplishments

Plenty of teenagers read books every day for entertainment and for school. But they don’t just read for amusement or that they need it for their classwork, they read because it is what they go to when things turn rough. Like what people said, books are a powerful thing, it can be hopeful and scary. Sherman Alexie is a wonderful writer, poet, and has published plenty of novels and short stories. Sherman Alexie’s purpose of writing is to give teenagers hope that things would work out alright, although it might be rough from time to time, and he also uses humor to entertain his readers. He provides teenagers things that they can relate to, and he addresses many crucial issues in his works. He uses numerous amount of stylistic techniques in his

In Tomson Highway’s novel Kiss of the Fur Queen the opening passage transports the reader to the harsh, cold, and intense struggle of the caribou hunter, Abraham Okimasis during a championship husky sled race. Any race often proves to be physically and mentally exhausting for a person. Highway utilizes a fantastic variety of literary devices to dramatize Okimasis’ physical and emotional experience through his last leg of the race by creating a powerfully intense atmosphere through the effective use of descriptive imagery, passionate diction, repetition of words, and a tone of desperation.

Gilbert K. Chesterton, an English poet and writer, once stated, “A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” One great author is Pam Munoz Ryan who wrote Freddie in the Shade. This short story is about a boy named Freddie who is going to move to a different school but then gets the chance to work at a bakery with a girl named Amy. The author uses personality traits and setting to convey the theme of accepting and coping with change.

Often heralded as the world’s greatest nation, the United States is also considered home to the world’s greatest authors. Reputable authors such as Fitzgerald, Twain, and Steinbeck remain relevant even through the washing waves of time. One such timeless author, Ray Bradbury, ventured the hazardous path of taboo to write of change. Through his novels of innocent youths evolving into children enlightened beyond their years, Bradbury utilizes the motif of time, innocence, and the philosophical movements of existentialism, transcendentalism, and romanticism to describe catastrophic events the American culture could face if existing destitute judgments continue to prevail. Ray Bradbury dared to reveal his voice.

Susan Beth Pfeffer decided that she wanted to be a writer when her father dedicated the law book he was writing to his daughter. Right then and there she wrote her first little story about the love between a pair of scissors and an Oreo cookie. Her childhood experiences form the basis of her writing, seeing that she grew up in the suburbs in New York. This explains why most of her books focus on young people growing up in the suburbs. Pfeffer went on to New York University. After getting her degree in radio, television, and motion pictures she started a writing course and her first novel Just Morgan was published. Throughout her life she has published more than 75 books and some of them include: A Year without Michael, Devils Den, Life as We Knew it and Family of Strangers. The themes of her books usually include emotional problems, divorce, historical fiction, and people having fantasies of modeling/acting. Her science fiction stories contain apocalyptic futuristic events like her novel Life as We Knew it.

Background: Di Brandt is a mother of two daughters. While raising the girls, she attended graduate school to further her education in literature; going on to become a

Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California, in 1953. In 1970, Tan majored in English at San Jose State, in California. Tan began a carrier as a technical writer after she graduated, at the University of California. However, she changed her writing because she was inspired to write fiction book after reading of Louise Erdrich's novel “Love Medicine”. As a result of this, language has helped Amy Tan in becoming the successful writer she’s today. It helped her express her complete thoughts in a way that everyone who reads, understand. Additionally, the type of language that she uses in her writing makes people take her seriously and as important as everyone else.

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.

“Go sweep the shop!” Nelson growled. This is heard a lot from South Hamilton’s shop teacher. He has been at this school for 24 years and has not stopped yelling at his students. So, what has this old, grouchy man done in his life? Once Gary Nelson graduated high school he had a low draft number and knew he would be drafted into the army, so he volunteered as a Navy Corpsman.

After receiving many calls from the Audubon society, the police sent a squad car to the local park. There stood 13-year-old Gary Parsons. With a BB gun in his arms and lifeless pigeons dangling from his belt loop, he was guilty. The police escorted him home and banned him from the park for shooting birds. The very next night he took revenge on the Audubon society, blowing their brand new birdhouse to pieces with a homemade cannon. No one expected Gary to become the devoted environmental activist that he grew up to be. Without Gary Parsons, the Choctawhatchee Bay watershed would not be what it is today. At 72, Gary dedicates his time and energy, striving to better the environment.

His big break as a children’s book writer came as a result of his wife. She was a producer of a television show and invited one of the show’s guests home for dinner on night. After dinner she and Chris Van Allsburg showed him some of his illustrations as part of a casual after-dinner conversation. He was immediately impressed and gave the number of Walter Lorraine, an editor with Houghton Mifflin Company, to him and asked him to call him. When he finally contacted Mr. Lorraine, the man was so impressed with his drawings that he convinced Chris Van Allsburg that he should venture into children’s book writing.

The riveting journey of Enzo and Denny takes place in Seattle, Washington. The two main characters of Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain are a unique dynamic duo made up of a smart yellow Labrador named Enzo, and a racecar driver named Denny. The story of their experiences is told through the analytical eyes and nose of Enzo. I found this approach intriguing and captivating because it differs from the traditional way of story telling. Enzo is different from other dogs because he believes he is a dog with a human soul. “I’ve always felt almost human. I’ve always known that there’s something about me that’s different than other dogs. Sure, I’m … the shell. It’s what’s inside that’s important. The soul. And my soul is very

Stieg Larsson was a Swedish Author and Journalist born August 15, 1954 in Skelleftehamn, Sweden. Stieg Larsson died November 9, 2004, aged 50, after having a heart attack. He died in Stockholm, Sweden where he spent most of his life. Stieg Larsson also wrote The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest.

“If one-day speed kills me, do not cry because I was smiling.” These were the famous words this talented man was known for. The angel was a courageous and outgoing guy that had an amazing personality.

I am Reia, a Junior from Kawasaki, Japan. I have two brothers, one that is entering his sophomore year in Brighton, England. My younger brother is in his 7th grade in a japanese public school. I’ve lived in New Jersey for 7 years, London for 5 years and learned to speak english, also attending Saturday schools to learn Japanese. All the previous schools I've attended were public schools and ASIJ is my first private school. This is my fourth year at ASIJ, therefore I know a lot about this area mostly because I bike 40 minutes to school everyday through the placid area. Whenever I pick up a book I prefer reading autobiography or nonfiction books. Recently, I have enjoyed reading “Not A Game” by Kent Babb. As for writing, I see myself as a mediocre