Showing results by author "Gary Paulsen" in All Categories

Thirteen-year-old Mark Harrison has a week to hike across the desert. He will meet his parents on the other side. By his fourth day, he’s made good time. As he settles in for the night, he gazes up at the stars, feeling completely content. Suddenly, a blue light streams from the sky, jolting Mark into another dimension. Now, in a land filled with strange jungle animals and primitive tribes, Mark desperately battles hunger, armed enemies, and superhuman powers.

Since his father died, Daniel Martin looks forward to summers with his uncle in the mountains. They have a great time practicing outdoor survival skills. But this summer his mother is sending him to Camp Eagle Nest. When he boards the camp van, Daniel’s heart sinks. Three boys from school - who always tease him - are going to camp, too. Soon the driver gets lost. As the van is crossing a rickety bridge, the wooden planks break, plunging the van into the river! Will Daniel be able to save himself and his classmates with his outdoor training?

The award-winning creator of popular survival stories turns his attention to his own real life adventures in Minnesota and Alaska as he prepares for the grueling Iditarod sled dog race.

Gary Paulsen has owned dozens of unforgettable and amazing dogs. In each chapter he tells of one special dog, among them Cookie, the sled dog who saved his life; Snowball, the puppy he owned as a boy in the Philippines; Ike, his mysterious hunting companion; Dirk, the grim protector; and his true friend Josh, a brilliant border collie.

Samuel, 13, spends his days in the forest, hunting for food for his family. He has grown up on the frontier of a British colony, America. Far from any town, or news of the war against the King that American patriots have begun near Boston.

Gary Paulsen, a Golden Spur award-winning author, collaborates with Brian Burks for this western-mystery tale of unlikely heroes and villains that is refreshingly free of gratuitous violence and sex. Life in Turrett, New Mexico was quiet until Travis Price rode into town bleeding and gravely wounded by an arrow. Paulsen and Burks serve up a vast and heroic vision of the Old West in this crisp, action-packed and suspenseful novel.

As the Civil War rages around the plantation where Sarny lives, she hears of other slaves running away. They are following the sparkling drinking gourd in the northern sky to freedom. She longs to go wherever she wants and to be allowed to read books, just like the freed slaves. But she has a young son and daughter to look after. When the master sells her children to a stranger, Sarny waits for an opportunity to sneak away to search for them. Her chance comes after a Union soldier kills the master.

Every time Kevin Spencer sees Tina Zabinski, the Most Beautiful Girl in the World, he’s in danger of tripping, falling, and making a fool of himself. He can hardly say a word to her. But Kev knows he’d be the perfect boyfriend for Tina. He’s not bragging. Just pointing out the obvious. Kev decides to take a scientific approach to getting a date with Tina. After all, love is based on chemistry. When new kid Cash Devine zeroes in on Tina, Kevin hustles to find the formula that will make her forget all about Cash.

Fourteen-year-old David Alspeth is the owner of a 22-foot sailboat, an inheritance from his uncle Owen, who recently died of cancer. Uncle Owen’s last request before he died was that David should take his ashes out to sea, a job David would give anything to avoid. When he finally sets sail on calm, clear evening, David feels the weight of what he must do all around him. He can’t imagine life without Owen. David completes his task, but on the return trip home he is caught unawares by a freak storm.

As a punishment for lying, Kevin has lost his allowance. He doesn’t lie now, but he’s broke. He’s got to find a way to make money. Lots of it, so he can impress Tina Zabinski, the World’s Most Beautiful Girl, and ask her on a date. So Kevin gets creative - and his life becomes a financial comedy of errors. Does he really have what it takes to get filthy rich at age fourteen? In Gary Paulsen’s hilarious follow-up to Liar, Liar, Kevin’s schemes lead him into situations that are sweet, some that are sticky, and some that are downright stinky.

Some people lead and some people get out of the way. It’s a universal rule. A cosmic inevitability. Kevin Spencer is one lucky guy. Tina Zabinski, the World’s Most Beautiful, Most Perfect, Best-Smelling Girl, is finally his girlfriend. But now that he’s got the girl, will he be able to keep her?E nter his mortal enemy, Cash Devine. Handsome, smooth-talking Cash is running for class president, and he seems to have his eye on Tina. Kev’s got to dazzle her, so he decides to exercise his great political mind and run against Cash. There’s just one little problem: Kevin has to win. Gary Paulsen continues his exploration of the quirky, inventive mind of fourteen-year-old Kevin in this hilarious companion to Liar, Liar; Flat Broke; and Crush.

Brett and Tom are crazy about video games. In fact, they became best friends when they discovered that they could beat all their opponents. Now they’re ready to take on the best one of all—Rodomonte’s Revenge—a new virtual reality game that just opened in the mall. Fire rivers, enormous buzz-bugs, impossible cliffs, and a treasure-filled castle are all exciting parts of the skill levels. But when the game begins to take over Brett and Tom’s minds, they fear that they might become a permanent part of the action.

A six-year-old boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother, Alida, in a small Minnesota town. 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 come to help and to wait, and to work on the quilt together

Ever since his father, a policeman, was killed on duty, Roman Sanchez hasn't been getting along with his friends. And today is another boring day in school. Just as the class is taking a test, two men wearing ski masks sneak into the room. "We're going on a little field trip," one man announces, waving a gun. The kidnappers hustle Roman and his classmates onto a waiting school bus and head out of town. But when the engine stalls, the men hijack a passing truck. Leaving most of the students behind on the bus, they force Roman and three other boys into the back of the truck.

Carley would rather have been anywhere but here: a town deep in Minnesota’s farm country, with nothing plentiful except poverty. Still, staying with his Uncle David and his family was better than reform school - which was where Carley was heading. Something was eating away at him, making him do crazy things. No one could understand why - least of all Carley himself. But then David took Carley to his blacksmith forge. And under the grim nights and days of the Minnesota fall, under the glow of hot steel, and the most exhausting work he had ever known, Carley began to see a way to shape his life.

Jacob Freisten's goal in life is to be unnoticed. He's perfect at gliding past the jocks' lockers and sneaking into his English class. But he won't be unnoticed now. If he wants to pass English, he has to work on the stage crew of the school production of The Wizard of Oz. Jacob, who's usually in a fog anyway, gets the job of running the fog machine. The problem is that Maria Tresser, the girl of his dreams, is playing the Wicked Witch. Jacob has already made a fool of himself in front of Maria. How can he face her again?

>In the winter life in McKinley, Minnesota, revolves around the rinks, where kids play hockey and grown-ups skate to scratchy phonograph records. Then, the year Marsh and his best friend, Willy, are 12, Carl appears at the rink, wearing a battered, old leather flight jacket and doing a strange dance that is both beautiful and disturbing to watch. It is Marsh and Willy who discover the terrible secret behind Carl’s dance, a secret that threatens to destroy him. But a small miracle occurs....

Rick, J.D., and Spud are the Rock Jockeys. They have been practicing their climbing skills for months. Now they’re ready to tackle the sheer mountain face known as Devil’s Wall. Their equipment is in top shape; supplies are packed. With teamwork and perseverance, they hope to reach the top by nightfall. As they climb, the Rock Jockeys recall the rumors about a B-17 bomber that crashed somewhere on the mountain. But as they suddenly stumble upon the empty wreckage, they wonder: What happened to the men inside? What were they willing to do to survive?

Nikki Roberts feels very grown up when her parents leave her alone in their mountain lodge for a few days. The 13-year-old has promised them she will not take any long horseback rides or canoe trips, so she saddles Goblin and heads for a nearby sheep meadow for the afternoon. It’s not long before Nikki’s trail leads her into perilous territory. She surprises deadly poachers at work who are shooting bighorn rams for trophies. Her CB radio picks up a distress call from two children stranded in a forest fire that has broken out down river.

Thirteen-year-old Jesse Rodriguez has learned everything he needs to know about skydiving by working at the small airport near his home. As soon as he turns sixteen, he'll make his first jump. His new friend, Robin, is training to skydive, even though she really prefers photography to parachutes. One day, while visiting Jesse at the airstrip, she unintentionally takes some pictures of several drug dealers disembarking from a small plane. Suddenly, the two teenagers find themselves on a flight that may force them to make their first jump much sooner than they expect.