Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen is a world renowned author. Paulsen is an outdoor enthusiast and most of his books are set in some sort of an outdoor environment. Paulsen has been credited for writing more than 200 books and short stories. Over the next few paragraphs I will be filling you in on Paulsen’s life and some of his most popular literary works.

Gary Paulsen was born in Minnesota on May 17 1939, he was raised by his grandmother and aunts. Gary was always an outdoor man and loved to fish and hunt. Gary was usually outside, and he seemed to be suprisingly independent for his age. Gary would rather be out in the woods by himself, than being indoors playing with friends.

Paulsen never really enjoyed to read or write until a life changing event happened when he was 13. He was passing by the local library and the librarian offered to give him a free book. Paulsen read it and he throughly enjoyed it. He went back to the librarian and asked for another book. She said that she would give him a lirbary card and that he could come back anytime he wanted and he could checkout as many books as he liked. Paulsen spent the next full year reading book after book in his aunts basement.

At age 14, Paulsen got tired of living with his aunts and grandma. He wanted to be independent. So, he ran away and joined a traveling carnival. Paulsen had an extreme taste of andventure and he loved living the fast paced carnival life.

After the carnival experience, took many jobs. He worked as an engineer, a truck driver, a sailor, and as a cattle-boy on farms. But in the back of his mind he always wanted to be a writer.

Paulsen's realization that he would become a writer came suddenly when he was working as a satellite technician for an aerospace firm in California. One night he walked off the job, never to return. He spent the next year in Hollywood as a magazine proofreader, working on his own writing every night. Then he left California and drove to northern Minnesota where he rented a cabin on a lake. While in Minnesota, Paulsen took up the sport of dog sled racing. By the end of that winter, he had completed his first novel.

From the very beginning, Paulsen knew he wanted to write books targeted for young readers. His intense desire to tap deeply into the human spirit and to encourage readers to observe and care about the world around them, has made him one of the most influential authors in the 1900’s.

Paulsen has an extreme work ethic. “I just work hard. I don't drink, I don't fool around, I'm just this way....The end result is there's a lot of books out there written by me.”(RandomHouse)