Gary Paulsen was born May 17, 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is one of America's most popular writers for young people. Gary ran away from home at age 14. He acquired a taste for adventure, which has provided great material that he has used to create his powerful stories. The popular Brian books are all based on real events that occurred in his life. "He was sitting in a bush plane roaring seven thousand feet above the northern …showed first 75 words of 928 total…

…showed last 75 words of 928 total…Gary Paulsen". Random House. 2002. 11 Dec. 2003 <http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/about.html> "Gary Paulsen". Random House. 2002. 11 Dec. 2003 <http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/library/trueadventure.html#guts> Kay E. Vandergrift. "Paulsen Page". 1996. 11 Dec. 2003 <http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/paulsen.html> Paulsen, Gary. Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books. 2000. New York: Random House, 2001. ---. Hatchet. 1986. New York: Scholastic, 1987.