Woods Runner
Woods Runner
Gary Paulsen
Random House, 2010
164 pages
Grades 7-10
Historical Fiction
Thirteen-year-old Samuel is a frontier boy from the wilds of Pennsylvania during the early days of the Revolutionary War. While he is in the woods tracking game to feed his small family. He returns home to find his entire settlement destroyed and all of the residents either slaughtered or taken as prisoner by the British and Native Americans working for them. His parents appeared to have been captured and Samuel is determined to rescue them. It is rather easy to track the path of the small army and he manages to catch up even though they have the lead. Once he tracks down the soldiers, he sees his parents and the rescue can begin—only to be attacked from behind. Samuel is rescued by Continental soldiers and after healing continues on his quest. He encounters more devastation and horrible violence, eventually leading him to New York City, a British stronghold where he discovered colonial prisoners are being held. Now he has a new traveling companions and befriends other allies along the way in his desperate attempt to free his family and return to their quiet life in the wilderness.
This is my latest attempt to find the best choice to use with my book group to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. Gary Paulsen is an amazing author who was the best at his craft of writing exciting fiction (often historical) for reluctant readers. Woods Runner is both education and hard to put down. It is also brutally violent, making it a great choice for young teens who have a hard time breaking away from video games, but maybe not the best for elementary readers who will most certainly get nightmares. The compact length is deceiving and it looks as if it is for a younger audience. Make no mistake, it is most definitely for teenagers. That said, it reads very quickly and is filled with cliff-hangers and non-stop action. I learned a lot about the early days of the war and rural life in Colonial America. Paulsen paints a brutal picture of the Hessians, who I knew were soldiers for hire, but didn’t know that they were quite so immoral and brutal as portrayed within the pages of the book. The Native Americans recruited by the British were also over-the-top nasty, which may prove to problematic to todays readers. In between chapters Paulsen offers brief historical information that sheds further light on the proceedings, which I found helpful and interesting. Not a book for everybody, but the best book for a certain reluctant reader. I’m surprised that this story has never been made into a movie. The fast moving plot and heartfelt moments are very cinematographic.