Gary Paulsen

From the Publisher

"This series of books about favorite teen authors is for librarians, teachers, and teens who want to know their favorite authors in depth. The volumes are full of biographical articles, reflections of the authors, and essays about their most popular titles. The series would be particularly useful to aspiring young authors who need reassurance that writing can be more than just a hobby. Bottom line: Both are just plain good reads. [Reviewed in conjunction with Sharon Creech]."

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Teacher Librarian

"The series' purpose is to provide supplementary materials for young readers wishing to learn about thei authors' lives and understand their favorite books better, as well as to emphasize how special and enriching reading and literary study can be for young, eager readers."

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VOYA

VOYA - Karen Sykeny

This series introduces young readers and teachers to the lives and works of six major young adult authors, including Gary Paulsen, Sharon Creech, Joan Bauer, Chris Crutcher, Walter Dean Myers, and Tamora Pierce. Each book covers the family and educational background of an author and brings to the forefront the emotional experiences that shaped them into writers. Authors' major works are covered as individual chapters, with critical analysis focusing on story summary, character, plot, setting, and themes, usually following a chronological order. The series' purpose is to provide supplementary materials for young readers wishing to learn about the authors' lives and understand their favorite books better, as well as to emphasize how special and enriching reading and literary study can be for young, eager readers. Quotes from author interviews and speeches are interlaced throughout and excellent works-cited pages make the books valuable resources for critical or casual study. The Sharon Creech volume focuses her work as a teacher and shows how she uses the practice of journal-keeping to create an emotional experience for both character and reader. Of special interest are the chapters on Creech's life and those that discuss Absolutely Normal Chaos, Bloomability, and The Wanderer. In Blasingame's work on Gary Paulsen, the excellent biographical chapters discussing his emotionally traumatic childhood with alcoholic parents and seeing a gruesome death in his early life emphasize his focus on survival, both in his personal life and as major themes in his fiction. The coverage of Paulsen's love of nature and wilderness which led him to his great affection for dogs and sledding is interesting.Overall this series would be a good addition to school and public libraries where young readers show interest in these authors' works. Teachers will find the books extremely useful as instruction tools. Reviewer: Karen Sykeny