Guts: Gary Paulsen

Guts: Gary Paulsen

         I am reading a non-fiction book by Gary Paulsen called Guts.The book describes the adventures that Gary had during the first twenty or so years of his life. These adventures later inspired his books Hatchet, Brian's Return, Brian's Winter, Dogsong and others. Gary Paulsen in his youth led a Huntsman/Survivalist life. At the age of twelve he was making money by setting pins in a bowling alley, delivering newspapers and other measly jobs to help him afford things for his school. After saving up enough money, he bought a "Remington .22 Single Shot Rifle", which he used to hunt animals and other game, to provide food and money for himself. Another story describes how, while he was doing the Iditarod, which is a long-distance dog sledding competition, he was attacked in the dark by a moose; which kept stomping on him every time he moved. The two words that I learned were dysentery and mallard. Mallard is a type of duck and dysentery means an infection in the intestines which can cause severe diarrhea and having blood and mucus in the excrement. A sentence with these two words can look something like this: After eating raw mallard one may experience dysentery. These are just some of the experiences he had during his early years, all of which prove that he has Guts; hence the book's name.