Hi all,
I've had a couple of questions about the reading level of Gary Paulsen's new book
WOODS RUNNER.
Here's my feel for that:
I never know where people's boundaries are so I'm going to give you some of the
toughest excerpts from the book and let you decide for your group:
This is after Samuel has had a wonderful meal with a couple in their home:
"Caleb and Ma came out onto the porch. Caleb wasn't armed, though he raised his
arm and pointed at the soldiers. He and Ma were immediately gunned down. Then
four soldiers jumped to the porch and bayoneted them. Annie exploded out of the
house and ran toward the barn. Three or four soldiers shot at her but missed,
.....They took the boies of Caleb and Ma and dragged them back into the house.
Eight or ten men went in the house then and looted it, taking anything shiny and
all the food they could find. Then they set fire to the house and barn and when
those were roaring with flames, the soldiers fell into formation and quick-marched
out of the yard, disappearing down the trail." "It had taken less than ten
minutes."
"Samuel was sickened by the cruelty, the absolute viciousness of the attack, and he
hunched over and retched. He felt that he should have run to Caleb and his wife, to
help in some way, but knew there was nothing he could have done. He would have
been dead long before he'd got at them."
"He was helpless. He sat crying, watching the house and barn burn, the Hessians
gone like a plague. Caleb and Ma.The food, eating together, how open and gentle
and pleasant and good it had been to sit with them and talk. Destroyed. Gone.
Gone in this ugly war with these ugly men.. Gone and never coming back and there
was nothing, nothing, he could do or could have done to save them, help them."
It's tough going. The violence is a bit contained but the emotions run deep
Just like now some of the deepest wounds of war are in the angst of the survivors.
I think eighth graders could handle it.
Let me know what you decide,
Barb
Join me on abookandahug.com
Barb Langridge
Children's Services
Howard County Central Library
10375 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, MD 21045
410 313-7880
barb.langridge@hclibrary.org
-------------------------
Original Message:
From: Ellen Taylor <ellen.taylor@cmcss.net>
To: Barb Langridge <barb.langridge@HCLIBRARY.ORG>
Cc:
Date: Tuesday, January 5 2010 10:05 AM
Subject: Re: [LM_NET] WOODS RUNNER by Gary Paulsen
Is this appropriate for HS or MS, in your opinion?
-- Ellen Taylor, LMS
Rossview High School
1237 Rossview Road
Clarksville, TN 37043
931.553.2070
ellen.taylor@cmcss.net
> From: Barb Langridge <barb.langridge@HCLIBRARY.ORG>
> Reply-To: Barb Langridge <barb.langridge@HCLIBRARY.ORG>
> Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 08:50:16 -0500
> To: <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
> Subject: [LM_NET] WOODS RUNNER by Gary Paulsen
>
> Greetings to all,
>
>
> Sometimes you're looking for something different in a book-maybe something
> that offers our kids a chance to walk in someone else's shoes for an hour or
> two. This new one from Gary Paulsen, WOODS RUNNER, does just that. It's made
> even more powerful by alternating fiction and non-fiction as the tale unfolds.
> The story is set in the time of the American Revolution. It asks the
> questions what was it like to live in these times and what was it like to be a
> thirteen year old boy who comes home to find the tracks of marauders and the
> scuff marks of his parents feet as they were dragged away? Whoa!
>
> WOODS RUNNER by Gary Paulsen: Hunting deer in the woods where he feels at
> home, thirteen-year-old Samuel suddenly senses a change in the sounds of the
> forest and charges home to find his parents missing. Samuel follows the
> tracks of the Indians and the British troops who have attacked their home at
> the edge of the wilderness. This is the story of his journey through the
> brutality and struggle of the American Revolutionary war and of the life of a
> young man who will need to rely on his skills to survive and to save those he
> loves. Ingeniously, Gary Paulsen alternates non-fiction passages about
> weaponry, prisoners of war, etc. between the chapters of the story. The
> non-fiction informs and enlarges the powerful setting and its terrible
> challenges.
>
> Join me on abookandahug.com
>
> Best,
> Barb
>
> Barb Langridge
> Children's Services
>
> Howard County Central Library
> 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway
> Columbia, MD 21045
>
> 410 313-7880
> barb.langridge@hclibrary.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------
> Original Message:
> From: Sybil Finemel <sfinemel@CA.RR.COM>
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Cc:
> Date: Tuesday, January 5 2010 2:10 AM
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> BA.MLIS
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