(4) YA Teen Reads: Student Companions to Young Adult Literature series. These comprehensive biocritical studies of two popular children's authors begin with some biographical background information contextualizing their work. The books then provide descriptions and cogent analysis of the authors' most well-known titles. While likely to be useful resources for teachers, the volumes will be less accessible to students due to dense blocks of text and unappealing design. Bib., ind. Review covers these Teen Reads: Student Companions to Young Adult Literature titles: Gary Paulsen and Sharon Creech.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) YA Authors Teens Love series. These biographies tell about the lives and works of popular authors. Most of the texts are bland and sometimes repetitive, but fans are occasionally rewarded with interesting tidbits (for example, in I Am the Cheese, Amy Hertz's phone number was actually the phone number of author Cormier). Some photographs and pull-quotes help break up the pages. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Authors Teens Love titles: Lois Lowry, Robert Cormier, Richard Peck, S. E. Hinton, and Gary Paulsen.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(2) 4-6 This is Paulsen's take on extreme sports, 1950s-style, when a few supplies from the army surplus and equal measures of guts and teenage lunacy were all it took to fly over town on a giant kite, wrestle bears, and hitch skateboard rides off the bumpers of Hudsons. The book is awash in nostalgia and goes off on many tangents but never loses its cranked-up pace and comic tone.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2003

(2) 4-6 Here's one for readers who only want to hunt down the good parts. Paulsen relates the nature lore and autobiographical incidents behind the wilderness survival scenario of Hatchet and many of his other popular books. He's candid about the dangers of the wild, but the writing is never sensationalized, and the tone is always modest.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2001

(4) YA Paulsen describes his adventures at sea with several boats he has owned, including the first, when he lacked sufficient sailing knowledge and got caught in a severe storm. Although the text defines most sailing terms and rigging mentioned, a labeled diagram or glossary would have been helpful. Paulsen's white-knuckle accounts will be most appreciated by readers who have sailing experience.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(3) YA People to Know series. The clearly written biography captures the drama of Paulsen's life as he competes in the Iditarod, sails the ocean, and tracks the wilderness while producing his amazing literary output. Much of the text repeats Paulsen's autobiographical writings, but this book also contains information from articles and speeches and serves as a solid secondary source for report writers. A time line is included. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) YA In an archetypal coming-of-age story, an unnamed boy leaves his alcoholic mother for a vagabond life of farm labor, hitchhiking, strangers both goodhearted and not, dubious poker winnings, carny shilling, and finally manhood in the arms of a stripper named Ruby. The tone is sometimes self-consciously earthy, but the focus is intense and immediate, as is the sense of dusty rural America of the 1950s.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton