8.2 /10 1 Votes8.2
4.3/5 Barnes & Noble Country United States Publication date 2001 Originally published 2001 Publisher Dell Publishing | 3.9/5 Goodreads Cover artist Saho Fujii Language English Pages 148 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genre Non-fiction Adventure Auto-Biography Nominations Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Similar Gary Paulsen books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books is a non-fiction book by Gary Paulsen, published on January 23, 2001 by Delacorte Books. It is about some of Paulsen's life adventures, including dog sledding in blizzards, being in a plane stalling in the air in the arctic, watching as a little boy gets stabbed to death by a young buck, and eating bugs. He discusses the inspirations of his life and the way they helped to create events for his character Brian Robeson in his Brian's Saga series.
Plot
When Paulsen was a child his parents were unfortunate and didn't have enough money for food and school supplies, so he worked as a pinsetter in a bowling alley for money and hunted rabbits, ducks, and grouse for food. He worked as one of two volunteers in a 1000 square mile radius, helping people with emergencies like heart attacks. He tells of how he was attacked my many moose, mosquitoes, and deer flies. He says he once was stranded while on a work trip because of a flipped canoe, losing essentials. He shares a story about men who go out alone in the wilderness and die, not of attacks but malnutrition.