Gone to the Woods

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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood is a harsh, harrowing memoir by bestselling author and three-time Newbery Honor recipient Gary Paulsen, known for his intense survival novel Hatchet. He punctuates the vivid horrors of his early life with powerful descriptions of the things that saved him -- the beauty of nature, the brief experience of being in a loving family, a post-World War II America still wild and free enough that a 12-year-old could flee his drunken, abusive parents and make a life for himself, however fleetingly, doing farm work on the Great Plains. He describes how worlds opened up for him through reading and writing after a librarian treated an outcast kid with respect. In a series of third-person vignettes that take "the boy" from the age of 5 to his enlistment in the Army, there's physical and emotional violence aplenty, from wartime atrocities and badly wounded soldiers and plane-crash survivors attacked by sharks to young Gary's parents trying to kill him. Crude language (including "piss," "bastards," "bugger," "crap," "balls") and situations, from bathroom crises to Army physicals, are common. Much of the story involves hunting, fishing, and wilderness survival, with matter-of-fact but gory detail. Ultimately, it's an inspirational tale of determination, self-respect, and transformational kindness, but the narrative road goes through horrific, and real, territory. The publisher recommends Gone to the Woods for kids age 8 to 12. But given the amount of child abuse, alcoholism, his parents' violent physical fights, and the implication that his mother used Gary to attract men in bars for sex, we think this is better suited for teens 13 and up.
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What's the Story?
GONE TO THE WOODS opens as "the boy," 5 years old, is taken to Chicago in wartime by his mother, whose factory job gives her lots of money to spend on partying and drinking with strange men and using her cute son as bait. (His father, an Army officer, is overseas, and the boy meets him for the first time some years later.) His grandmother steps in and puts the boy on a solo train ride to Minnesota, where he's taken in by his aunt and uncle on their farm. It's the first time he's been treated with love and respect, and it doesn't last, as his mom returns with one of his temporary "uncles" to take him away. But in this short time he gains self-respect, learns about hard work, how to scare bullies into leaving him alone, and what it feels like to have people who love you -- and discovers a profound bond with nature. The horrific years to come until he makes his escape by enlisting in the Army include much abuse from his violent, drunken parents, as well stealing from drunks in bars for food money. But he also experiences the triumph of surviving in the woods by his own skills, and has brief interludes of freedom where he proves his worth in the outside world. The kindness of a librarian opens worlds of reading and writing that ultimately lead to his salvation and also his lifelong career as a successful author.
Is It Any Good?
Gary Paulsen's most harrowing survival tale turns out to be his own, where brief interludes of kindness and love of nature get him through years as of abuse by his drunken, violent parents. Some parts of Gone to the Woods -- told in a series of third-person vignettes -- are stronger than others, but both the horrors and the moments of strength and revelatory beauty are told so compellingly that you are furiously rooting for this kid to get out and get to a good place, even when you know he did.
"Sure not safe at home. Never safe. Parents didn't know he was gone anyway and when they at last thought to punish him for running, for being a runaway -- no, Runaway -- he was already in the woods. Father said he was no good. Swore at him. Called him worthless. This from a man got so drunk he pissed his pants and didn't know it. Walked back from the liquor store with a bottle in a paper sack and wet legs and didn't even know it. ... But called the boy a worthless kid...Worthless kid who never pissed his pants and was smart enough to slip away before they knew he was gone and head for the woods."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the instinct for survival in Gone to the Woods. Why are stories of abused kids who survive so popular? Do you know any kids (or former kids) who overcame traumatic events in their early life and found positive, loving ways to live? What helped them?
Young Gary had the world opened up to him by a librarian. Has a librarian ever handed you a book that changed your life, expanded your world view, or led you to become a fan of a certain author? What was the book?
Have you read any of Gary Paulsen's novels? Does knowing what he went through as a kid make you see them any differently?
Book Details
- Author: Gary Paulsen
- Genre: Autobiography
- Topics: History
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Publication date: January 12, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 368
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: February 11, 2021
Our Editors Recommend
For kids who love World War II stories and coming-of-age tales
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