His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival stories. Now Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments in 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. Without his desperate teenage enlistment in the army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller. A moving and enthralling story of grit and growing up for newcomers and lifelong fans alike, this is the acclaimed author at his rawest and realest.

ALONE
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present -- and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parent's divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self pity, or despair -- it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.
For twenty years Gary Paulsen's award-winning contemporary classic has been the survival story with which all others are compared. This new edition, with a reading group guide, will introduce a new generation of readers to this page-turning, heart-stopping adventure.

There was a wild crashing sound, a ripping of metal, and the plane blew through the trees, out over the water and down, down to slam into the lake . . . Brian is a city boy. Not used to living rough. Until his plane crash-lands in the Canadian wilderness. All he has is a hatchet - and a desperate will to survive. Now Brian must learn to live the hard way - or die.

From Gary Paulsen, the bestselling and much-loved author of Hatchet, comes another high-stakes survival story about a young boy on the knife-edge between life and death, where the raging seas meet a coastal wilderness. When a deadly plague reaches the small fish camp where he lives, an orphan named Leif is forced to take to the water in a cedar canoe. He flees northward, following a wild, fjord-riven shore, thrown from one danger to the next, unsure of his destination. Yet the deeper into his journey he paddles, the closer Leif comes to his truest self as he connects to the heartbeat of the ocean, the pulse of the sea. A stunning historical adventure with hints of Nordic mythology and an irresistible narrative pull, Northwind is Gary Paulsen at his captivating, adventuresome best.

Samuel, 13, spends his days in the forest, hunting for food for his family. He has grown up on the frontier of a British colony, America. Far from any town, or news of the war against the King that American patriots have begun near Boston.
But the war comes to them. British soldiers and Iroquois attack. Samuel's parents are taken away, prisoners. Samuel follows, hiding, moving silently, determined to find a way to rescue them. Each day he confronts the enemy, and the tragedy and horror of this war. But he also discovers allies, men and women working secretly for the patriot cause. And he learns that he must go deep into enemy territory to find his parents: all the way to the British headquarters, New York City.

"From the Hardcover edition."

"We want you to do it again."

These words, spoken to Brian Robeson, will change his life. Two years earlier, Brian was stranded alone in the wilderness for 54 days with nothing but a small hatchet. Yet he survived.

Now the government wants him to go back into the wilderness so that astronauts and the military can learn the survival techniques that kept Brian alive. Soon the project backfires, though, leaving Brian with a wounded partner and a long river to navigate. His only hope is to build a raft and try to transport the injured man a hundred miles downstream to a trading post--if the map he has is accurate.

"From the Paperback edition."

Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his father's single-minded pursuit of an off-the-grid existence. His dad may be brilliant, but dumpster-diving for food, scouring through trash for salvageable junk, and wearing clothes fully sourced from garage sales is getting old. Increasingly worried by what schoolmates and a certain girl at his new school might think of his circumstances - and encouraged by his off-kilter best friend - Carl adopts the principles set forth in a puppy-training pamphlet to "retrain" his dad's mindset...a crackpot experiment that produces some very unintentional results. This is a fierce and funny novel about family and untangling some of the ties that bind from middle-grade master Gary Paulsen.

Millions of readers of" Hatchet, The River, Brian's Winter," and "Brian's Return" know that Brian Robeson is at home in the Canadian wilderness. He has stood up to the challenge of surviving alone in the woods. He prefers being on his own in the natural world to civilization.
When Brian finds a dog one night, a dog that is wounded and whimpering, he senses danger. The dog is badly hurt, and as Brian cares for it, he worries about his Cree friends who live north of his camp. His instincts tell him to head north, quickly. With his new companion at his side, and with a terrible, growing sense of unease, he sets out to learn what happened. He sets out on the hunt.

"From the Hardcover edition."

A young city boy is sent to spend the summer on his aunt and uncle's farm. Though he has lived many places over the years, he has never experienced anything like farm life . . . and he has never met "anyone" like Harris, his daredevil of a cousin. If the two of them can survive wrestling three-hundred-pound pigs and mouse-hunting with toothless old Louie's fire-spitting pet lynx--which, unlike his master, has "plenty" of teeth--they just might make it through the summer

LOST

Brian Robertson, sole passenger on a Cessna 406, is on his way to visit his father when the tiny bush plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. With nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present, Brian finds himself completely alone.

Challenged by his fear and despair -- and plagued with the weight of a dreadful secret he's been keeping since his parent's divorce -- brian must tame his inner demons in order to survive. It will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed.

Four classic books from Newbery Honoree Gary Paulsen are now available in one boxed set: "Hatchet," " Woodsong," " Dogsong," " "and "Dancing Carl."
This collectible boxed set of beloved titles from acclaimed author Gary Paulsen includes "Dancing Carl," "Dogsong," "Hatchet," and "Woodsong."
In "Dancing Carl," a teen's terrible secret becomes a fragile expression of hope and the healing power of love.
In the Newbery Honor Book "Dogsong," Russel, driven by a strange, powerful dream, takes a team of dogs on an epic journey of self-discovery that will change his life forever.
In the Newbery Honor Book" Hatchet," Brian Robeson must survive fifty-four harrowing days following a plane crash, stranded in the desolate wilderness with only his instincts--and his hatchet.
And in "Woodsong," Gary Paulsen recounts in vivid detail some of the incredible life experiences that shaped his remarkable fiction.

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

In Hatchet, 13-year-old Brian Robeson learned to survive alone in the Canadian wilderness, armed only with his hatchet. He was rescued at the end of the summer. Brian's Winterbegins where Hatchet might have ended: Brian is not rescued, but must build on his survival skills to face his deadliest enemy--a northern winter.

"From the Hardcover edition."

In the tradition of Jack London, Gary Paulsen presents an unforgettable account of his participation in the 1,100-mile-long dogsled race called the "Iditarod". For 17 days, Paulsen and his team of dogs endured blinding wind, snowstorms, moose attacks, and more--yet relentlessly pushed on to the end. "The best author of man-against-nature adventures writing today".--Publishers Weekly.

An experienced Iditarod racer, Gary Paulsen celebrates his lead dog and longtime companion, Cookie, in this intimate essay. Paulsen takes readers inside the kennel as Cookie's last litter of pups grow and learn to pull sleds across the snowy frontier. " Includes an author's note."

From the author of the bestselling Hatchet comes a true story of high-stakes wilderness survival!

If not for his six-hundred-mile journey from the busy Chicago city to a captivating Minnesotan farm aged five, there never would have been a Hatchet. Without the encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book aged thirteen, he may never have become a reader. And without his daring teenage enlistment in the army, he might not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller.

Gone to the Woods: A True Story of Growing Up in the Wild is the entrancing true story of Gary Paulsen's childhood, of grit and growing up, and is the acclaimed author at his rawest and most real.

In the National Book Award longlist book This Side of Wild, Newbery Honor-winning author Gary Paulsen shares surprising true stories about his relationship with animals, highlighting their compassion, intellect, intuition, and sense of adventure. Gary Paulsen is an adventurer who competed in two Iditarods, survived the Minnesota wilderness, and climbed the Bighorns. None of this would have been possible without his truest companions: his animals. Sled dogs rescued him in Alaska, a sickened poodle guarded his well-being, and a horse led him across a desert. Through his interactions with dogs, horses, birds, and more, Gary has been struck with the belief that animals know more than we may fathom. His understanding and admiration of animals is well known, and in This Side of Wild, which has taken a lifetime to write, he proves the ways in which they have taught him to be a better person.

Fired by a passion for running dogs, award-winning author Gary Paulsen entered the Iditarod, a gruelling 1180-mile race across Alaska, in dangerous ignorance and with fierce determination. After a spectacularly inept period of training and an even more spectacularly inept start to the race, Paulsen and his team of 15 dogs ran for 17 days through the beautiful, treacherous arctic terrain. They crossed the barren moon-like landscape of the Alaskan interior and witnessed sunrises that cast a golden blaze over the vast waters of the Bering Sea. Enduring blinding wind, snowstorms, dogfights, frostbite, moose attacks, sleep deprivation and hallucinations, he pushed on. This book recounts his adventure.

As millions of readers of Hatchet, The River, and Brian's Winter know, Brian Robeson survived alone in the wilderness by finding solutions to extraordinary challenges. But now that's he's back in civilization, he can't find a way to make sense of high school life. He feels disconnected, more isolated than he did alone in the North. The only answer is to return-to "go back in"-for only in the wilderness can Brian discover his true path in life, and where he belongs.

"From the Paperback edition."

An orphan reflects on the lessons he was taught by the wise old man who raised him in this lyrical novel that reads like poetry from three-time Newbery Honor-winning author Gary Paulsen. Deep in the woods, in a rustic cabin, lives an old man and the boy he's raised as his own. This sage old man has taught the boy the power of nature and how to live in it, and more importantly, to respect it. In Fishbone's Song, this boy reminisces about the magic of the man who raised him and the tales that he used to tell--all true, but different each time.

From Gary Paulsen, the award-winning author of Hatchet, comes a laugh-out-loud eco-adventure about a boy, his free-thinking dad and the puppy-training pamphlet that turns their summer upside down. Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his dad; he may be brilliant, but bin-diving for food, scouring through rubbish for 'salvageable' junk and wearing clothes fully sourced from garage sales is getting old. Increasingly worried by what his schoolmates will think - and encouraged by his riotous best friend - Carl decides to use a puppy-training pamphlet to 'retrain' his dad's mindset . . . a crackpot experiment that produces some hilarious results! How To Train Your Dad is a fierce and funny novel about family, friendship and green-living from middle-grade master Gary Paulsen.

"In the Old Days There Were Songs"

Something is bothering Russel Susskit. He hates waking up to the sound of his father's coughing, the smell of diesel oil, the noise of snow machines starting up.

Only Oogruk, the shaman who owns the last team of dogs in the village, understands Russel's longing for the old ways and the songs that celebrated them. But Oogruk cannot give Russel the answers he seeks; the old man can only prepare him for what he must do alone. Driven by a strange, powerful dream of a long-ago self and by a burning desire to find his own song, Russel takes Oogruk's dogs on an epic journey of self-discovery that will change his life forever.