Woods Runner Author: Gary Paulsen | Language: English | ISBN:
B0030CMK1W | Format: EPUB
Woods Runner Description
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.- File Size: 225 KB
- Print Length: 178 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385738846
- Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books; 1 edition (January 12, 2010)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0030CMK1W
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,736 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #11
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Historical Fiction > United States - #17
in Books > Children's Books > Geography & Cultures > Multicultural Stories > Native North & South Americans - #22
in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > United States > Colonial
- #11
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Historical Fiction > United States - #17
in Books > Children's Books > Geography & Cultures > Multicultural Stories > Native North & South Americans - #22
in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > United States > Colonial
After spending the past 30 years researching, writing and doing school presentations on the Revolutionary War, I always have mixed feelings when I learn about a newly published YA novel on this subject - I look forward to reading it, but am apprehensive it will be full of historical inaccuracies. I am also hard to please. I consider Johnny Tremain too slow, April Morning too philosophical, My Brother Sam is Dead too depressing, and Octavian Nothing much, much too difficult for young readers.
I recommend L.M. Elliott's Give Me Liberty for how it shows how political events on the eve of the war impact ordinary Virginians. Also, Ann Rinaldi's The Fifth of March for her excellent portrayal of life in 1770 British army occupied Boston, with a nice love story thrown in. As for stories showing how inexperienced teenage soldiers cope with their first battle, I have yet to see any book as good as my own two, Patriots and Gone to Meet the British.
Now I'm adding WOODS RUNNER to this short "recommended" list. It has all the elements I consider essential to a good children's novel: a main character the reader can identify with, and it's exciting, suspenseful, fast paced and easy to read. Gary Paulsen's description of how Samuel uses his woods skills is right on, as well as the boy's feelings and thoughts. The story is believable, and I read it straight through to see how the conflict was resolved.
However, nearly every chapter had an extra page or two after it where Paulsen provided historical context info that took me out of the moment; those pages would have been better placed in a lengthy Afterword. I suspect this book will be around for a few decades.
If Mr.
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