Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood – Gary Paulsen

A mesmerizing memoir from three-time Newbery Honor–winning author Gary Paulsen―whose books have sold over 35 million copies worldwide―giving readers a new perspective on the origins of his blockbuster contemporary classic Hatchet and other famed survival stories.

His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival adventures. Now, beloved author Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments from 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. And without his desperate teenage enlistment in the Army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller.

An entrancing and critically lauded account of grit and growing up, perfect for newcomers and lifelong fans alike, Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood is literary legend Gary Paulsen at his rawest and most real.