Washoe County Library System

The author's account of his most ambitious quest, to know a world beyond his knowing, to train for and run the Iditarod.

For a sixteen-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every day's an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor. He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely farm in the middle of nowhere. Then he joins up with a carnival and becomes a grunt, running a ride and shilling for the geek show. By the end of the summer he's pretty sure he knows it all until a girl named Ruby comes into his life.

The author relates incidents in his life and how they inspired parts of his books about the character, Brian Robeson.

Exploring the country and the heart, the author buys a Harley Davidson and takes the ride of his life.

"The Newbery Honor-winning author of Hatchet and Dogsong shares surprising true stories about his relationship with animals, highlighting their compassion, intellect, intuition, and sense of adventure. Gary Paulsen is an adventurer who competed in two Iditarods, survived the Minnesota wilderness, and climbed the Bighorns. None of this would have been possible without his truest companion: his animals. Sled dogs rescued him in Alaska, a sickened poodle...