Woodsong
by Gary Paulsen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gary PaulsenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-08
ISBN: 1416939393
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781416939399
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Woodsong
Book Review: Strap on the Harness, Paulsen is Taking You for a Ride!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading Gary Paulsen's Winterdance, I had to try this one. I teach 5th grade, so I thought Woodsong might be more geared toward them. I'm still reluctant to use this except in small groups...the depiction of nature's brutality with all the graphic detail, will be a little too intense for some of my students...only balanced by an adult's perspective (putting it into context).
Setting aside that one word of caution, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like one of his dogs, once I was harnessed in, I couldn't stop running through the pages. Woodsong isn't the marathon that Winterdance is...more like a quick run from White Mountain to Nome...but I only stopped briefly to eat and sleep. [Couldn't get my wife to rub my shoulders or change my socks, though. No moose chili, either. C'mon [...]!] It's a book I'll read again and again.
What Paulsen does, he does extremely well. To begin, it's a parallel story to Winterdance, but draws from a completely different set of experiences: read both books! Paulsen masterfully strips away our romantic 'Disney' notions of nature with gritty reality. If you've ever spent time in remote places, off the beaten path, his stories will ring true to you. Paulsen is both humble and insightful in his understanding of himself, his thoughts and feelings, his limitations and motivations. That honesty is as rare as it is refreshing. Paulsen spends a little too much time focusing on the 'strange but true' encounters that happen in the wild, but I think it's part of his way of processing them...and sharing the wonder and awe that you get when you're out there. The grand scale of some of his stories, perhaps embellished, nevertheless leave you with the proper impression that the world of the Iditarod and Alaskan wilds are unimagineable and endless. You could explore them your entire life and never have seen it all.
Lastly, I have to add this personal commentary...how is Gary Paulsen STILL alive!!!!???? He must have a dozen, overworked, grumbling and sleepless guardian angels. His lack of caution and planning...or put more positively...his willingness to take risks and put himself in unfamiliar situations...does not usually go unpunished by Mother Nature. If there is anything bad in his message, it's the unspoken idea that you can take chances time and again...and somehow get away with it. My experience is that even with ALL preparations in place, you will still encounter the unpredictable. And although you prepare, risk is something you accept and live with. It's part of being in the wild. On our best days, we are small and powerless against the forces of nature. Wisdom, perseverance and adaptability are all essential survival tools. Paulsen seems lacking in wisdom (except that, in his self-deprecating style, he may be better than he says). Finally, Paulsen must have used his 'nine lives' long before he left Minnesota, and must therefore, be surviving on the borrowed or stolen 'lives' of others. That's wrong for him to do, of course, but he does put them to good use...and is nice enough to share them with US! Thank you, Gary Paulsen. And God bless your patient wife!
Summary of Woodsong
A LIFE AS EXCITING AS FICTION
Gary Paulsen, three-time Newbery Honor author, is no stranger to adventure. He has flown off the back of a dogsled and down a frozen waterfall to near disaster, and waited for a giant bear to seal his fate with one slap of a claw. He has led a team of sled dogs toward the Alaskan Mountain Range in an Iditarod -- the grueling, 1,180-mile dogsled race -- hallucinating from lack of sleep, but he determined to finish.
Here, in vivid detail, Paulsen recounts several of the remarkable experiences that shaped his life and inspired his award-winning writing.
A School Library Journal Best Book
A Booklist Editors' Choice
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