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What made the man?Influences and Biographical Information
born in Minnesota on May 17, 1939;ran away from a difficult home life at age fourteen and for years lived a very hard life;Held a variety of jobs and faced many personal problems that form the basis of many of his stories;completed two rounds of the 1,180-mile Alaskan dog sled race, the Iditarod, which gave him lots of ideas for his writing. His wife, an artist, illustrates many of his books.lives in New Mexico and also have a boat in the Pacific His overwhelming belief in young people drives him to write.
Hatchet, Canoe Days, Winterdance, Woodsong,
just a few of more than 175 works…
Interesting Facts
• Paulsen wasn’t a serious student, but became an avid reader when a librarian gave him his first library card.
• Possessed with tremendous drive, Paulsen lives life intensely. His dogs dominated his life until he was forced to stop racing, then he shifted that drive to writing. He’s written more than 175 books!
“Books saved my life.First reading them, then writing them.As surely as my lead dog Cookie pulled me from the bottom of a lake after I fell through the ice, books are the reason I survived my miserable childhood. As certainly as my sloop Scallywag has safely taken me through storms and huge seas, books have sustained me as an adult."
- Gary Paulsen
