I've been a Gary Paulsen fan since the first time I read Hatchet - and every other book of his after that. I had high hopes for this memoir, eager to learn about his life and childhood. Of course, it didn't disappoint! Despite a childhood filled with angst, neglect, and traumatic events, he found a place that nurtured him and made him feel safe - the library. My respect for his success and talent has grown exponentially since reading this book.

As a long-time Gary Paulsen fan, it's no surprise to me that I was riveted by this memoir from a favorite author. Fans of Hatchet and Paulsen's other action-adventure/survival stories will have a special connection to reading this book about Paulsen's childhood. Mature content would gear this more to the upper middle-grade/YA range.

Wow. This book is a tells Gary’s story so beautifully that I just want to keep reading. His words are like being wrapped in a warm hug, even when he’s going through the worst experiences. Reading about him gaining a love for books was absolutely magical.

Gary has written another great book. This is a memoir about growing up with a very dysfunctional family and being rescued by a kind librarian and books. If you have read Gary Paulsen's books, you will recognize characters that appear in many of his other books. I would recommend it for 5th grade and up.

I received an electronic copy from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group through NetGalley.
Paulsen takes readers on a journey from some of his earliest memories through the time when he began to write stories. The emphasis is on his childhood years through his time in the army. This is a gritty look at the reality of this child who mostly raised himself except for some time spent with his aunt and uncle. He writes matter of factly about the traumas he faced and how they became part of him. This offers readers insight into his books and why he writes as he does. He shares his places of safety along with the more difficult portions of his life. It's told in third person narrative as though he's looking at another's life. Very telling that he refers to himself as "the boy" through most of the book.
This is one for upper middle grade and young adult readers. It was terrific and enlightening to read it as an adult as well.

I see that this is considered a 'middle grade memoir', but adults will find this so captivating/compelling too....esp. those who've grown up hearing parent's or grandparent's stories of growing up/life during that same era (1940's-50's) that Gary Paulsen did. He tells of/explains some important events/times of his early years. Having never read any of his books, only read the great reviews.......this is a great introduction to him... I really look forward to reading his books now. He is so good at telling the story, painting the picture in your mind as you read, really puts the reader in the scene. Once I started reading this book, I could hardly put it down!
I won an e-ARC of this book in a Publishers Weekly Grab a Galley Giveaway from MacMillan Children's Publishing Group via NetGalley.

Have you ever read a much-loved story and wondered, "How on earth did this author come up with this story?" Gone to The Woods by Gary Paulsen provides some fascinating insight into the mind of this unparalleled story-teller. Gary begins by explaining the difficult circumstances of his childhood through the eyes of a 5-year-old and then goes on to outline the events that helped him develop a love of nature and an indomitable spirit of survival. This is not only an engaging and well-told story, it would make an excellent mentor text for any teacher who is interested in teaching the skill of memoir. This is a must-have addition to any middle-grade teacher's bookshelf. Don't miss this one!

My first introduction to Gary Paulsen's work was when I was required to read Hatchet as part of my Children's Literature course in college. That book has followed me throughout my teaching career and is my go-to book for reluctant readers. After reading Gone to the Woods, I have decided it is nothing short of a miracle that Gary Paulsen is alive, much less a celebrated author of children's books. The book also makes clear why Brian's exploits in Hatchet seem so real, so plausible. Gary lived that life himself. No, he wasn't stranded in the Canadian wilderness. However, he was left to his own devices due to parents who were trapped in a cycle of alcohol abuse. He had to survive using his wits from a very early age. If it weren't for the handful of people in Gary's life that believed in him and encouraged him, Brian's story (along with his other novels) would have never existed. Mr. Paulsen's story is one to be shared with students who feel as if they are invisible or are avoiding being noticed at all costs. His story shows that no matter where we may start in life, with a little help from a handful of people and a tenacious spirit, we can survive our own lost childhoods.

Due to minor language issues, I'd recommend this book to upper middle school students and up.

Paulson shares some very challenging events in his early life about growing up in a dysfunctional family, yet finding a way through it all. My favorite part - how a library changed his life.

MEMOIR

Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen; Farrar Straus Giroux, 368 pages ($17.99) Ages 8 to 12.

...

Gary Paulsen, author of thrilling survival tale "Hatchet," a 1986 Newbery Honor book, tells the story of his own truly "lost childhood" in this compelling memoir.

Now 81, Paulsen relates the tale referring to himself as "the boy", giving the memoir the feel of a novel. With the vivid language familiar from "Hatchet" (and the four sequels), he tells his own remarkable story of survival, as the unloved child of alcoholic parents he recalls as "vipers."

With her husband away with the Army, his mother got a job at a munitions plant in Chicago in 1944 and had her 5-year-old son singing on tabletops in bars until his horrified grandmother demanded he be put on a train and sent to stay on a northern Minnesota farm with his aunt.

The book is divided into five sections: "The Farm" and "The River," making up nearly half the book, are devoted to this idyllic time he spent with Edy and her husband Sig, as the boy experienced the dawn-to-dusk hard work of farming, the bliss of having his own room, his aunt's delicious food, the wonders of the natural world, the comfort of his aunt and uncle's affection. At age 6, he learned survival skills that would stand him in good stead later in life: how to paddle a canoe, build a fire, pick and dry wild mushrooms, catch and clean and gut fish.

In Part 3, "The Ship," his mother shows up, insisting they join his father in the Philippines, a journey offering many traumatic experiences including a plane crash and shark attack ("Even at this distance he could see the red froth of blood in the water near the boat"), brutal violence in Manila, his first meeting with his father who had no interest in him, his first experience of his parents' drunken fights.

Part 4, "Thirteen," finds the boy and his parents returned stateside, living in "a grubby apartment," the boy fleeing their drunken brawls for "safe places": the woods, the alleys at night and the library where the kindly librarian befriended him, began guiding his reading and encouraged him to write. He ran away from home many times – twice before turning 13 – hitchhiking through the prairies, finding work on farms, driving a two-ton grain truck, seated on an old Sears catalog so he could see over the steering wheel. School for a boy from a bad family was "a nightmare walking," until he was referred to vocational training in TV repair. Part 5, "Soldier," finds him enlisting in the Army at 17, an experience that brought back traumatic memories of war-ravaged Manila and showed him he wanted something more from life.

After writing dozens of novels for young people, acclaimed author Gary Paulsen turns his literary talents to examine his own life. Through the course of a difficult childhood and teen years, he discovers a key trait—the ability to survive, no matter the circumstances—as evidenced in the adventure books he wrote later. While readers get many answers, they’re also left with questions. Paulsen shares in exquisite prose some of his most painful memories but doesn’t do them full justice in his memoir Gone to the Woods.

At the age of 5, Gary Paulsen finds himself on a train from Chicago, alone, to go live with his aunt and uncle in Minnesota. While he pines for his mother, he’s already come to understand that a life singing on tables in bars isn’t normal. He has learned a few choice swear words, however, and also how to tolerate the gentlemen callers his mother entertains. Although the train trip is harrowing for a small child, it also takes him to where he’ll experience some of the happiest times of his life.

Paulsen moves in with his Aunt Edy and Uncle Sig. They teach him the ways of their farm and the land. Paulsen finds himself cemented to nature; its beauty and its ways mystify him and pacify him in a way nothing else can.

Despite his utter contentment living with Edy and Sig, Paulsen’s mother eventually comes for him. They endure a long boat ride across the Pacific Ocean to join his father in the Philippines on the base in Manila. All Paulsen knows up to this point is that his mother worked in an ammunition factory and his father fought in the war. His initial trepidation gives way to a small kernel of hope. He’s leaving the land he loves, but perhaps he and his parents can become a family.

Unfortunately, his parents don’t have time to spare from all the fighting and drinking they’re doing. Eventually, when they return to the States, Paulsen begins his “rinse-and-repeat” pattern of running away and supporting himself with odd jobs. Authorities find him every time and bring him back home where he’s forced to scrounge for food and money until he gets restless and runs again.

On a cold winter day, Paulsen enters a library as much to warm himself up as to escape the latest group of bullies. He’s always been a slow reader and never had an interest in books, but a librarian takes notice of him. Her kind manner encourages Paulsen to come back and, eventually, to get a library card. Suspicious at first that she’s trying to con him into going back to school, Paulsen soon becomes the librarian’s biggest fan as she gently suggests fiction and nonfiction works that remind him of his childhood. A stint in the military leads to more eye-opening experiences, but Paulsen never forgets the fire burning in him for the world of stories.

Paulsen recounts the earlier years of his childhood in detail, which will draw readers in and leave them sympathizing with him. Unfortunately, as the memoir proceeds through his early and then late teen years it begins to condense various time periods to the detriment of the overall story. By the end the narrative skips several decades until the last lines, written no doubt with the intent of flourish but instead leaving readers confused.

Several questions may come to mind as readers go through this memoir: Did he ever go back to that librarian and share his published works? If Paulsen loved the land and his aunt and uncle so much, why didn’t he go back to them after his family returned to the U.S.? He was already bent on running away from home; why not run to a place and to people who loved him so much?

Interviews independent of the memoir reveal that Paulsen did, indeed, spend much of his teen years with other family members, but this is never addressed in the book. Also, several of his life experiences that would have made for compelling reading don’t make it into this tome. Aimed at middle grade readers, it seems strange that Paulsen would leave out some of those events, like competing in the Iditarod, that his target audience loves in his fiction works.

Given the beauty of the prose, diehard fans of Paulsen will probably enjoy this. Others may want to consider giving it a miss. I recommend readers Borrow Gone to the Woods.

4.5 Stars

Just under 11 years ago, I had the privilege of speaking with Gary Paulsen in advance of an author visit to Salt Lake for two of his books — Lawn Boy Returns and Woods Runner. I had the opportunity to interview him again via email about a year and a half later for Flat Broke. Both times Paulsen spoke of his love for reading and writing and how books “saved” his as a child, giving him “an escape from my horrible childhood.”

Gone to the Woods gives readers a glimpse of that childhood, and it’s not easy reading. That’s not to say the writing is bad, rather it’s so good that you are immediately transported to a world in which no child should have to grow up.

Paulsen’s prose is poignant and immersive, pulling you in further and further until you have to keep reading. You feel his joy, his sadness, his confusion and his pain. His experiences with his aunt and uncle are heartwarming and those with his parents, heartbreaking.

My favorite section is where he discovers the library as a teen. There’s a great deal of wonder and heart in those pages.

“I had no home life, no school life, almost no friends,” Paulsen told me in 2010. “This librarian kind of intellectually took me under her wing and got me into reading. I think what happened was that kind of transposed itself into wanting to be a writer.”

“I can’t not write,” Paulsen said in 2011, “but it takes everything out of me when I work in a wonderful way. The dance with words and the way the hair on the back of my neck raises when it works right is what I live for.”

Paulsen’s passion for the written word is clear in Gone to the Woods. The tone, even when dealing with difficult subjects, has a soft clarity to it I’ve yet to find anywhere else.

The publisher’s suggested age range for Gone to the Woods is 8-12. I’d put it at a mature 10 and up. The “up” part refers to adults, as well, who will easily fall into this excellent book.

Gone to the Woods is not a fast read, and it deals with some hard topics. It only covers Paulsen’s life from about age 5 to his later teens. The age cutoff is necessary but a bit too abrupt for those expecting a more encompassing finish.

I enjoyed this middle grade memoir of Gary Paulsen's difficult childhood. If you are a Paulsen fan and read 'Hatchet' you definitely need to read this book. He was put on a train at just 5 years old! He learned to work on a farm and he found a home in the library.

Thank you to #netgalley #garypaulsen and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the #gifted advance copy of Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood

Oh, the feels in this memoir. From wanting to slap the boy's mother, kidnap him and take him back to Aunt Edy and Uncle Sig, and give that librarian a great big hug, Gary Paulsen's memoir about his childhood is filled with joy, pain, desperation, and hope. What the boy went through is, unfortunately, what many went through at the time, but it doesn't make it right.

This book visits the boy's life at four key moments: spending his childhood as a male beacon for his mother, discovering he is his own person with Aunt Edy and Uncle Sig on their homestead, learning that humans are the greatest monster and threat as a teenager, and uncovering his true calling as an adult.

It is a gritty middle-grade memoir that will make adults weep and get angry for the boy. However, it also shows the power of the human will and the strength of one's soul to endure despite all the cards stacked against them. This book will connect on so many levels to a lot of readers and should be read alongside Hatchet, Woods Runner, Tracker, and Flat Broke.

There is so much to say about the book but I've been left speechless.

My students love all of Gary Paulsen’s book and will enjoy this memoir. He had an interesting life of adventure, bumps in the road, and successes now.

This book was very interesting! Since reading Gary Paulsen's book 'Hatchet' in elementary school, I've thought about it constantly. The survival of that character left a lasting impact on me, the same way I think Gary Paulsen's memoir will.

Paulsen lived a rough and honestly, a crazy life. The amount of learning and self teaching he did is mind blowing and it was awesome to learn so much about his childhood and teenage years.

It took me a while to get used to the writing in this book, since it was written in third person. Once I did though, I flew through it in one sitting and now all I want to do is read the rest of the author's survival stories.

A middle grade memoir, Paulsen tells the story of key moments in his childhood and adolescence that would eventually lead him onto his literary path. From the woods of North America to the Pacific Ocean to Manila and back, what, or rather who, stands out most are the people that helped shape him.

The sections that stood out to me were Part 2 The River, where he recounts his time with his aunt and uncle on their farm, and and the final chapter of Part 4 titled Stories. The former was ripe with nostalgia, both from Paulsen but also from myself. There was something in his telling that took me back to my 9 year old self when I was reading Where the Red Fern Grows for the first time. It was warmth and quiet contentment, a serenity even as curiosity wanted to drive you faster. For a second I was a kid again and it was magical.

In the latter section a young Paulsen has learned the power of stories, and suffice it to say I burst into tears. They exploded out of me so unexpectedly, from a moment that was quiet gratitude more than anything, that I had to pause and pull myself together before continuing. It was a moment of tender vulnerability and thanks from Paulsen, and I was absolutely moved by it.

I enjoyed reading this, it was really charming and honest. Part of why I found it charming is that instead of using the first person, Paulsen uses the third person referring to himself as “the boy” instead of by his name. It gave the book more of a storybook vibe which I love for a memoir.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy. This book was a haunting and lonely portrait of a neglected young boy. I found the style of a memoir for young readers so interesting.

I had a hard time putting this down and it was so good!

How does one write a memoir that will still maintain the interest of middle grade readers? You write it exactly like this. Paulsen allows readers to serve as observers in his life like they’re reading a novel rather than someone’s memoirs. Written in the third person, it reads more like fiction than not, which I liked, but just as I settled into it like I would any other novel, I would be reminded differently: these are moments he lived through; no, this is not fiction. It’s these moments in particular that struck a chord with me. It’s also these moments when the imagery in the book is at its best.

Young or old, if you’re a fan of Gary Paulsen or his books made an impact on your life, this is a worthwhile read. Some of the content might be mature for those who are younger, but it doesn’t exactly fit into YA either. If you’re a librarian or an educator, or someone who just genuinely cares about kids, the section on the library and the role the librarian played in his life was especially meaningful. (3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars)

What is here is so well done, riveting and compelling--and inspiring. Equal parts love letter to the good parts of his life and an F you to the bad. But, there are parts of his life that he alludes to that need to be here to fill in the gaps. Content is straight forward about his difficult life which makes it suited to a more mature middle grades reader.