A three-time Newbery Honor winner tells—in a memoir that is even more immediate and compelling than his novels—about his intimate relationship with Minnesota's north woods and the dog team he trained for Alaska's Iditarod.
Beginning with a violent natural incident (a doe killed by wolves) that spurred his own conversion from hunter and trapper to observing habitant of the forest, Paulsen draws a vivid picture of his wilderness life—where bears routinely help themselves to his dog's food and where his fiercely protective bantam adopts a nestful of quail chicks and then terrorizes the household for an entire summer. The incidents he recounts are marvelous. Built of concrete detail, often with a subtext of irony or mystery, they unite in a modest but telling self-portrait of a man who has learned by opening himself to nature—not to idyllic, sentimental nature, but to the harsh, bloody, life-giving real thing. Like nature, the dogs are uncontrollable: independent, wildly individual, yet loyal and dedicated to their task. It takes extraordinary flexibility, courage, and generosity to accept their difficult strengths and make them a team: Paulsen sees humor in their mischief and has learned (almost at the cost of his life) that rigid discipline is irrelevant, even dangerous. This wonderful book concludes with a mesmerizing, day-by-day account of Paulsen's first Iditarod—a thrilling, dangerous journey he was so reluctant to end that he almost turned back within sight of his goal. lt's almost as hard to come to the end of his journal.
This may be Paulsen's best book yet: it should delight and enthrall almost any reader.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-02-770221-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1990
A tough, persuasive examination of the devastating effects of divorce on the members of what appeared to be a strong, solid family. When Michael Levine divorces Lacey and Rosie’s mother, each of those left behind retreats into her own protective shell. Ma takes up with a bodybuilder named Vinnie; Rosie’smart, pretty, and talented—finds solace in an increasingly physical relationship with her boyfriend, Joey; Lacey, feeling deserted and alone, moons over self-centered, wise-cracking David. Just after Lacey discovers her sister and Joey having intercourse in the Levine basement, Rosie learns that she is pregnant; the family has to support Rosie as she decides whether to have the baby or to have an abortion. Ultimately Rosie decides to have her baby and to give it up for adoption, with a hope that she will somehow remain part of its life. Caseley (Jorah’s Journal, 1998, etc.) leaves the meaning of the title ambiguous, and allows the story, at times, to be realistically depressing in its portrait of a family trapped in pain. Only when Michael Levine—offstage most of the book—reappears does the family reconfigure itself and find a way to move forward. In the end, readers know that the Levines will survive, and that Lacey, a particularly memorable character, will be there for them. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: March 24, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-34665-8
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
A teenager confronts a stomach-churning change in living arrangements in this thought-provoking tale from Powell (Dean Duffy, 1995, etc.). Three years after Grady’s rock star mother fatally overdoses, his grandmother and her new husband are about to trade in their house for an RV; he is facing the prospect of moving into the conservative Christian household of his beloved, mentally retarded half-brother Louie. A history of radical antagonism between Grady and Louie’s domineering stepmother Vickie makes this prospect unappetizing to him; deeply resentful of Vickie’s insistent efforts to distance Louie from anything that might remind him of his biological mother, Grady loses no opportunities to get under her skin. Ushering Grady past his reluctance, as well as ample self-doubt and residual grief, is his genuine affection—which is reciprocated—for Louis, a boisterous, not entirely naive character who leads a strong, nonstereotypical supporting cast. By the end, though the skies are far from clear, Vickie and Grady are headed toward a truce, each recognizing in the other a sincere will to give it a try. Although Powell occasionally indulges in overt psychologizing, he allows readers to see for themselves what drives a set of engaging, often surprising characters. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 20, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-37748-0
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
