Gone to the Woods

Ages 10 to 14

A middle-grade memoir from a literary legend, giving readers a new perspective on the origin of Paulsen’s famed survival stories.

His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival stories. Now Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments in 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. 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 for newcomers and lifelong fans alike, this is the acclaimed author at his rawest and realest.

About the Author

Gary Paulsen (1939–2021) wrote more than two hundred books for children and adults, including the recent father-son comedy How to Train Your Dad, and the survival adventure Northwind. Three of his novels—Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room—were Newbery Honor books. In 1997, he received the ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for his contribution to young adult literature. His books have sold more than 35 million copies around the world. garypaulsenauthor.com