Woods Runner

Reading it out loud withy my 12 year old boy. It has kept us totally engaged! So far only one cuss word but plenty of violence as any story about war is prone to contain. Stretching vocabulary for public school kids~

Gary Paulsen's WOODS RUNNER is a book that I would have loved when I fifth grade. It is the perilous story of thirteen year-old Samuel who is out hunting on the day that the American Revolution comes to his part of the world (an isolated homestead in colonial Pennsylvania). Samuel returns home to find that his family's homestead (and those of all the neighbors) have been burned to the ground, and deduces that his parents have been taken away, prisoners of the Redcoats. (Fortunately, as we later come to learn, it was Redcoats rather than Hessians who were responsible in this particular instance.) The story follows Samuel as he narrowly escapes death and finds himself using his rifle to take a human life as he seeks to harness all of his knowledge, wits, and resources, in order to locate and liberate his parents from their captors. Earlier this year, I gushed about the pairing of poetry and prose in Joyce Sidman's sure-to-be-an-award winning picture book, UBIQUITOUS. I am equally fond of the manner in which Gary Paulsen intersperses bits of factual background information between his chapters. The "interruptions" are but a couple of hundred words each, and each is focused on interesting topics that you don't find in the history textbooks. "'I feel guilty, though,' Samuel's father whispered. 'So many men in that shed, in other sheds. Starving. And I get food.'"'It is the way of it,' Abner put in from the darkness, 'of war. Some get, some don't, some live, some...don't, It's the way of it.'" While it may be focused on hostilities from hundreds of years ago, today's young readers will find WOODS RUNNER a powerful depiction of what war is like on an intensely personal level. As Paulsen notes in his Afterword, "Some of the dreadful nuts and bolts of battle, the real and horrible truths, are frequently overlooked because other parts are more dramatic and appealing. There is a tendency to clean up the tales of war to make them more palatable, focusing on rousing stories of heroism and stirring examples of patriotism, all clean, pristine, antiseptic." WOODS RUNNER, like the real story of my beloved country, is a messy story.

Gary Paulsen's WOODS RUNNER brings the Revolutionary War to life as it tells of a teen boy caught up in the passions and horror of war. Samuel's peaceful life in the American wilderness changes when war reaches his settlement and murders his neighbors. His search for his family will lead him to track the British who have taken his family prisoner, and will lead him into danger. Young adult libraries strong in historical fiction will find this riveting.

In WOODS RUNNER, Gary Paulsen takes readers inside the American Revolution. It is not the history book version, but instead, the story of one young boy's fight to survive and save his parents. Thirteen-year-old Samuel loves the woods. He spends his time exploring the forest and hunting for game to feed his family. One day while in the woods, Samuel sees black smoke in the distance. The longer he watches the smoke, the more uncomfortable he feels. He heads for home, but when he arrives, he discovers his house and all of the other buildings in his small settlement burned to the ground. As he searches for survivors, he finds casualties, but his parents are not among them. He stays long enough to bury those who were killed, and then he heads off in search of his parents. Samuel travels cautiously. He keeps to the brush and ducks for cover whenever he hears a noise. As he follows the trail of the Redcoats, he hears news about how they are traveling toward New York, where most prisoners are being held. His goal is to get there, too, and rescue his mother and father. Along the way, Samuel witnesses horrible scenes of death and destruction. He is badly injured in one attack, but thanks to the help of strangers, he recovers enough to continue his journey. Other strangers also step in and lend a helping hand as Samuel heads east. Gary Paulsen not only tells Samuel's adventurous tale, but he also inserts factual information telling about the British, the Colonists, and others involved in this tumultuous time in history. WOODS RUNNER is definitely not your typical, boring historical recap. There is action, suspense, and touching moments about what it was like to live and die during the American Revolution. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

Samuel, a thirteen year old boy, lives on the frontier of Pennsylvania with his parents. One day, Samuel was out hunting and he saw smoke above the trees about where his village was located. He thought it was his neighbor, but he thought wrong. It was a group of attackers. They had burned down every cabin in his settlement plus more. They had killed everyone, except a few prisoners, including his parents. Samuel is terrified as he tries to find his parents. Once he catches up to them, a very small war starts and it is right in between him and his parents. He was hit in the head by a tomahawk, a small axe, and fell suddenly to the ground. Six to seven days later, he wakes up with a group of Indians. They said they would take him to New York to find his parents. When he grows stronger, the Indians are too slow for him, so he tells Coop, the Indian that saved his life, that he was going ahead of them by himself. As he travels, he meets Annie and her family. He goes through many adventures on his way to save his parents. Will he be able to save his them in time? Read Woods Runner to find out. This book was very well written. Once I got into a good part, I simply couldn't put it down. I loved this book, but there was one thing I didn't like about it and that was there is always someone dying. Other than that, this book was amazing. I like the action and how there was never a time when there wasn't action going on in it. Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer Flamingnet Book Reviews [...]

Woods Runner, Gary Paulsen's latest novel, has what readers love about the famed author: the adventure, nature, and fast-paced narrative. This one has something more - the grittiness of the Revolutionary War - as seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Samuel, along with a unique style of presentation. The story begins as most classic Paulsen's do, in the woods, and quickly segues into the encroaching war. In an effort to set the historical context, Paulsen augments the third-person omniscient chapters with short notes (one to two page) to help the reader understand the historical context of the story. Paulsen's arrangement of alternating fiction and non-fiction is like having a friendly history teacher giving you short bursts of pertinent information while you are reading. The inclusion of the historical context is why this book is perfect for literature circles or a class read-aloud. At only 161 pages, the book is written for ages twelve and up. The depiction of war and how impacts both soldiers and local families is realistic and somewhat graphic, so squeamish people might squirm. The descriptions are not gratuitous or over-the-top, however, and add to the authenticity of Paulsen's writing. In New York State, 7th grade students study American history, so WOODS RUNNER would be a great offering for students who like action and read at a normal reading level. It also could be supplemental reading for an older student who has a lower reading level. If you are a teacher or librarian, make sure you add this one to your mix! Parents, if your child loves this popular author or gritty historical fiction, make sure to add it to your gift list. As an added bonus, an author study kit will be available through the publisher Wendy Lamb Books, a division of Random House.