Brian Wessel texted me a couple weeks ago about a book his daughter checked out of her elementary school library entitled "Brian's Hunt" by Gary Paulsen. The front cover shows a teenager with a stickbow. The kid on the cover even looks like Brian Wessel in his youth! Gary Paulsen wrote a series of very popular scholastic books for pre-teen kids. His first was entitled "Hatchet," about a 13 year old boy who goes down in a small plane crash in the Canadian wilderness when his pilot has a heart attack and flies far off course. With only a hatchet to survive, Brian spends three months in the wilderness and discovers not only himself but learns to make his own bow and arrows, survival techniques, etc. and learns to love the outdoors more than civilization. The popularity of Hatchet lead to a series of other Gary Paulsen books about Brian's adventures. I ordered several hardback copies used for $3-$4 each with free S&H on abebooks.com They can be read in one night (100 pages or so). Even though they are written for school kids, they are very well done and pro-hunting. If you know any 9-12 year olds who like to read, I highly recommend the three that I've read so far of the series. The author obviously knows a thing or two about hunting with bows and arrows.

My oldest read those those and loved them.  My youngest is just now getting into them.  Very well written literature.

I think I will look into them gene my little guy Loves to read...THXS!

Thanks Gene, I know someone that would love those.

Hatchet was a reading assignment in 4th or 5th grade.  I loved that book and still have images in my mind of what I thought his life was like to this day.

My 9 year old just read Hatchet and loved it.

These were on my kids 5th grade reading list. They loved them and so did I.

Another excellent read by Gary Paulsen is "Father Water, Mother Woods". This book is a autobiographical collection of essays on hunting and fishing as a boy growing up in Minnesota. There is an essay on bow hunting where he recounts his first deer kill. I think it is one of the best essays I have ever read on the subject.

And as Gene noted, after your kid reads the book(s), read them yourself.  That is how I read Hatchet long ago.   My kids loved it and were telling me about it.  I saw it sitting on the table so I started reading it and didn't put it down.

Fun, and yet somewhat intense (but kid appropriate) read and to this day have wanted to find the time to see if I could catch fish the way Brian did.  I will leave that as a tease...

I just ordered another book by Gary Paulsen entitled "Guts" that sounds interesting.

They sound interesting, I just ordered a couple of them.  It looks like a book that I woulda loved as a kid....a little after my time though!!

My daughters both read Hatchet as part of their middle school literature classes. I read it after them and it was well done.

When I was in my early teens these were the kind of books that I read. I read all of the Jim Kjelgaard books, Jack London, and a series similar to the Brian books about a kid that went to live in the mountains called "My Side of the Mountain". These were perfect for that age to get kids excited and interested in the wilderness, plus it established a love for reading that I have to this day.

Thx for the heads up! Just ordered a few for my son...

That sounds familiar to me. Think I have have read that when I was a kid. I'll look into them. Those would be good for my nephews to check out.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lin Rhea:
 I read all of the Jim Kjelgaard books

Sure ya did. Lessee you list all the dogs, in order.  

Paulsen fans and any others who like good writing about dogs and the outdoors who have not read "Winterdance" should do so immediately. But not where your raucous laughter will disturb any neighbors or passersby.

Lin, I know this is getting off topic a little, but in 3rd grade "my side of the mountain" was my favorite. as an adult, I was excited to see the Catskills and was the first movie I ever was disappointed with after the book.

Those are great books! Read them all the time growing up.

Great books,my son read them I read them and then grandpa read them.

4 chapters into Hatchet! Thanks for the heads up!!