Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen

Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a crushing memoir from awesome author, Gary Paulsen. Aimed at middle grade readers, this book would also be very interesting to YA readers and adults. Referring to himself as the boy, Paulsen describes parts of his upbringing and how it shaped him---from a mother who used him in bars to sing at the young age of five, to a doting grandmother and awesome Aunt and Uncle who instilled love and the beauty of nature to his time in Manila, running from his alcoholic parents and school, finishing school with a vocation and then his time in the army. Paulsen's writing made me so angry at times due to what his parents did or did not do to him. But when he talked about his time on the farm with his aunt and uncle and his love of the woods and their farm I was enthralled with how much love and beauty this world and these people gave to Paulsen when he was six years old. Thankfully his awful childhood made him resilient due to the calming influence of his grandmother and aunt and uncle---those parts of the book transported me and I fell in love with Paulsen's descriptions of the food, animals, livestock, pastures, mushroom gathering and fishing in this part of his life. This book will interest many kinds of readers, Paulsen was not a student and reluctant readers will identify with Paulsen's feelings about school. A must read; this book will speak to many different people.

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