“When my son James was in high school, he and I both read Gary Paulsen’s book ‘Hatchet,’ a tale of survival in the north woods. We found Paulsen’s story riveting. Only the account of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s escape from the Antarctic competed for sheer adventure.
“Remembering how much James liked ‘Hatchet,’ last year I gave him Paulsen’s autobiographical ‘Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood’ after reading a rave review of it in the New York Times. The reviewer noted how the book was Paulsen’s own personal survival story, a harrowing tale of parental abuse and neglect, of trauma (he lived in the Philippines for a time and witnessed the murder of civilians), and of some hope, including the boy’s discovery of a public library.
“I wasn’t sure how my son, now 33, would respond to a ‘middle grade memoir’ but he said he liked it. And I know he read it: Reading the book recently, I noticed checkmarks here and there in the margins where he noted a memorable image or passage. For example, when Paulsen spies a whitetail deer on the shore of a stream in northern Minnesota, he marks the moment as ‘when he would never again be able to, nor even want to, separate himself from nature.’ James checked it off.
“‘Gone to the Woods’ turned out to be Paulsen’s last book; he passed away in October 2021. His legacy lives on in his many books and in the pleasure a father and son found in their pages.” —CARL LITTLE, Mount Desert
Mainers, please email to tell us about the book on your bedside table right now. In a paragraph or two, describe the book and be sure to tell us what drew you to it. We want to hear what you are reading and why. Send your selection to pgrodinsky@pressherald.com, and we may use it as a future Bedside Table.
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