Guts : The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books - Hardcover

Paulsen, Gary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385326505 ISBN 13: 9780385326506

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2001

Synopsis

Guess what -- Gary Paulsen was being kind to Brian. In Guts, Gary tells the real stories behind the Brian books, the stories of the adventures that inspired him to write Brian Robeson's story: working as an emergency volunteer; the death that inspired the pilot's death in Hatchet; plane crashes he has seen and near-misses of his own. He describes how he made his own bows and arrows, and takes readers on his first hunting trips, showing the wonder and solace of nature along with his hilarious mishaps and mistakes. He shares special memories, such as the night he attracted every mosquito in the county, or how he met the moose with a sense of humor, and the moose who made it personal. There's a handy chapter on "Eating Eyeballs and Guts or Starving: The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition." Recipes included. Readers may wonder how Gary Paulsen survived to write all of his books -- well, it took guts.

About this title

Review:

What do you do when you're being charged by a red-eyed furious wall of brown fur that is an insane moose? How do you make a weapon with your bare hands? How do you sneak up on a grouse or a rabbit, kill it with a well-aimed arrow, and cook it over a fire--without a pot? All this and lots more is essential learning for Brian Robeson, the young wilderness survivor in Gary Paulsen's classic novel Hatchet. In writing that book, Paulsen was determined that everything that happened to Brian--the survival techniques and the physical and emotional traumas--would be drawn closely from reality and his own experiences. In Guts he reveals the stories behind Hatchet, as he lived them. Linked to specific incidents from Brian's ordeal are the skills and insights Paulsen learned as a teenager passionately in love with hunting in the north woods of Minnesota, the extremes of exhaustion and cold he knew in running the Iditarod dog races in Alaska, the chilling close-up knowledge of heart attacks from his experiences as a volunteer ambulance driver, the silence and majesty of the wilderness. Some great stories are told here: the child killed by two kicks from the razor-sharp hooves of a small deer, the difficulties of sharing a rescue helicopter ride with a terrified dog team, and some spectacular gross-outs about the nutritional need to eat every part of an animal. Hatchet fans will be agog, and parents and teachers will be thrilled to see the enthusiastic reaction of even the most reluctant readers. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

About the Author:

Gary Paulsen is a three-time Newbery Honor winner who has published more than 100 books. Among his best-known titles are Brian’s Winter and Soldier’s Heart.

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0385326505
• ISBN 13: 9780385326506
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144