Gary Paulsen Books in Order

Paulsen recalls his work as a missile technician during the early years of America's missile program. Failed launches and unpredictable equipment provide the material for a humorous account of projects that often went wrong before getting off the ground.

This short biography introduces Martin Luther King Jr. through his work for civil rights and his commitment to nonviolent protest. Written for young readers, it presents his efforts to challenge inequality and the principles behind his activism.

A mercenary assembles a specialist team for a heavily guarded mission to destroy an oil refinery in Central America. The company's own commission draws them into encounters with intelligence agents and armed opponents as their deadline approaches.

Unemployed satellite engineer Jason Theiss accepts a lucrative offer to build a secret tracking station on a Pacific island. When a murdered man's body washes ashore, the project becomes a dangerous puzzle involving the people working beside him.

Photographs, drawings, and anecdotes introduce small woodland animals in their natural surroundings. This nonfiction book for young readers looks at animal behavior through illustrated encounters, offering a close view of creatures that share the woods.

An unhappy thirteen-year-old finds protection and friendship with Duda, a tough police officer in a small Minnesota town. As the boy grows closer to him, Duda's troubled character complicates his role as a guide into adulthood.

Photographs of professional rodeo competition accompany a humorous look at riding, roping, and bulldogging. The commentary draws attention to different aspects of the sport, giving young readers an illustrated view of its demanding events and competitive action.

Paulsen pairs humorous observations about football with photographs of professional players. This illustrated nonfiction book for young readers looks at different aspects of the sport through its action and personalities, using comedy to accompany the pictures.

A priceless cobra amulet disappears from a museum despite its elaborate security system. Young detective Mallard and his friend Rick investigate how the thief managed the theft, while the artifact's threatening inscription adds another puzzle to the case.

Lost in the woods, two cousins find shelter with a masked man whose face bears terrible injuries. One boy returns to learn about the Foxman's past and the wilderness skills that sustain his isolated life.

Bart Caldwell joins his school's ice hockey team hoping to win acceptance from other students. As he commits himself to the sport, his pursuit of belonging begins to crowd out other ambitions and demand personal sacrifices.

A boy runs away from his uncle's farm only to become trapped in harsh farm labor. Rescued by Tiltawhirl John, he learns carnival life while a man from his new mentor's past threatens their freedom.

Photographs of professional tennis players accompany humorous commentary on different aspects of the game. Forehands, backhands, and the action around them offer young readers an illustrated look at a sport whose moments can be playful as well as competitive.

Paulsen and John Morris introduce the equipment and preparations involved in hiking and backpacking. The guide covers packing, camping, cooking, getting lost, injuries, and wildlife, helping young readers understand the practical demands of traveling outdoors.

An emerald-green youth from another planet is recruited to play professional basketball on Earth. His ability to change his skin color adds an unusual complication to a sporting adventure that brings an alien player into a human game.

Fifteen-year-old Janet Carson feels isolated in a New Mexico art colony and is troubled by a recurring dream about a white deer. Her growing connection with Billy Honcho, an older Native American man, begins to give the dream meaning.

Thirteen-year-old John Borne faces his grandfather's terminal illness and the prospect of new responsibilities on their farm. Sent hunting alone, he follows a deer into the woods while struggling to understand loss and his changing life.

This outdoor guide introduces the equipment, techniques, and safety considerations involved in canoeing, kayaking, and rafting. Paulsen explains the practical requirements of these water sports for readers interested in preparing for journeys on rivers and other waterways.

Professional skiing photographs accompany Paulsen's humorous commentary on downhill, freestyle, and cross-country skiing. Written for children, the book looks at the sport's activities through pictures and jokes, emphasizing its lighter side rather than telling a fictional adventure.

Gary Paulsen introduces hot-air ballooning through photographs and an account of what makes a balloon fly. From launching to landing, he explores the pleasures and practical challenges of drifting above the ground.

A meteorite is racing toward an American city when satellite tracker Foreman tries to warn the military. Discovering that officials intend to exploit the catastrophe, he must survive their attempts to silence him and stop their scheme.

Paulsen offers a humorous look at boxing through commentary paired with photographs of professional fighters. This illustrated nonfiction book for children explores different aspects of the sport, using the action in the pictures as material for its jokes.

Two Denver detectives investigate an armed robbery at a savings and loan, where witnesses identify the masked thieves as children. The unusual suspects turn a routine crime assignment into a troubling question about who organized the hold-up.

A computer technician discovers that a secret organization intends to use computers to wreck America's economy. His discovery draws him into a thriller centered on the danger of technology turned against the systems that depend on it.

Gary Paulsen explains the basics of sailing with advice drawn from his own experience. Equipment, boat care, repairs and emergency procedures give beginners a practical starting point for understanding life on the water.

Entire families are murdered in a quiet Chicago suburb by a killer known as the Sweeper. With no apparent motive linking the victims, local police bring in a hardened homicide detective to track him down.

Gary Paulsen offers practical ways to get by without a regular paycheck. Dealing with creditors, bartering, finding inexpensive food and maintaining a home or car form a guide to living with limited resources.

Twelve-year-old Marsh and his friend Willy notice Carl's strange dancing at their Minnesota town's ice rink. Their curiosity leads them toward the painful secret behind his movements and the wounds he carries from the past.

Troubled Carley is sent to stay with his uncle David in Minnesota farm country instead of entering reform school. Exhausting work at David's blacksmith forge challenges his anger and offers a different way to shape his future.

Russel Susskit longs to escape the noise and machinery of his village and recover older ways of living. Guided by Oogruk, he sets out with a dog team on a journey to discover his own identity.

After a plane crash leaves thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson alone in the Canadian wilderness, he has only a hatchet to help him survive. Finding food, shelter, and fire forces him to adapt while confronting memories of his parents' divorce.

Four young people pursue separate dreams, from reconnecting with cultural roots to making music and gaining family understanding. Their ordinary struggles unfold beneath a shared threat that could destroy the futures they are trying to build.

Sheriff Al Murphy investigates the murder of an eleven-year-old girl whose body is found in the stables. His determination to discover the truth puts him at odds with anyone who would prefer the crime to remain unresolved.

Fourteen-year-old orphan Manny survives on the streets of Juarez while dreaming of a better life across the border. His attempt to cross the Rio Grande brings him into contact with a stranger whose intentions he cannot read.

A woman asks Al Murphy to find her missing husband, drawing the lawman into a search that ends with a dead man. Murphy turns from finding him to pursuing those responsible for the killing and seeking justice.

Fifteen-year-old Wil Neuton retreats to a small island to study nature and understand himself. His search for solitude meets resistance from his family, a bully, and reporters who turn his private refuge into public attention.

Al Murphy leaves law enforcement to build a quiet ranching life in Wyoming with Midge. When enemies follow him and attack his homestead, the violence of his past pulls him back into a dangerous pursuit.

Denver homicide detective Ed Tincker investigates a series of brutal murders after human remains are found at the airport. Evidence of ritual killings and connections to aviation lead him toward a murderer who remains difficult to identify.

Fourteen-year-old David sails his late uncle's boat to scatter his ashes, then is caught in a violent storm. Stranded offshore with little food, he must face the ocean's hazards and find a way back to land.

Eleven-year-old Eldon describes life through the seasons on his family's farm and his relationship with his brother Wayne. During winter evenings, Uncle David's stories reveal an unfamiliar side of a man the boys thought they knew.

After finding an Apache boy's skull near Dog Canyon, fifteen-year-old Brennan Cole feels connected to a life cut short more than a century earlier. Returning the skull to a sacred place becomes a demanding journey through the canyon.

Journalists Tally Janrus and Kyle Paring investigate a child murder and uncover crimes reaching far beyond a single case. Their pursuit exposes a network of wealthy businessmen buying children, drawing them into a dangerous international conspiracy.

Sheriff Al Murphy confronts the lawless residents of Fletcher, Wyoming, after they lynch a powerful Texan's son. A feed-store owner and his hired men stand in his way as he tries to face down the town's violence.

Jacob Freisten wants to remain unnoticed, but passing English requires him to join the school play's stage crew. Operating the fog machine becomes especially awkward when the girl he likes is cast as the Wicked Witch.

Gary Paulsen recalls his experiences in the wilderness of Minnesota and Alaska while preparing for the Iditarod sled-dog race. Encounters with animals and the demands of working with dogs shape his understanding of life outdoors and endurance.

A rooftop sniper spreads fear through Chicago by killing apparently random victims. With only spent bullets and an uncertain description to guide him, homicide lieutenant Ronnie Gold struggles to find the murderer through ordinary police methods.

A five-year-old boy is sent to stay with his grandmother, who cooks for a road-building crew in the northern forest. The camp offers adventure and companionship, but his longing for his mother remains difficult to overcome.

Rocky follows artist Mick Strum as he sketches her Kansas town for a memorial to its war dead. His drawings reveal truths the residents resist, while Rocky begins discovering her own abilities and understanding what art can express.

Brian Robeson returns to the Canadian wilderness with a government psychologist who wants to learn his survival skills. When a storm leaves his companion unconscious, Brian must build a raft and navigate a river to seek help.

A boy travels with his mother to spend Christmas with relatives in northern Minnesota while his father is at war. Knowing his cousin is dying casts a shadow over a holiday filled with snow, family, and uncertainty.

A coded message in a library book leads Dunc and Amos to a burglary ring targeting Melissa's home. Amos wants to impress her by stopping the thieves, but his eagerness brings a succession of comic obstacles.

Farm life unfolds through stories of work, weather, animals, love, and death across the seasons. These connected vignettes follow the rhythms of a rural community, showing the hardships and pleasures of a way of life slipping away.

Researching a Civil War cannon leads Dunc and Amos into a time portal. They arrive in Culpepper in March 1862, just before the Monitor and Merrimac clash, turning a historical investigation into an unexpected encounter with the past.

Amos believes an old house is haunted by Blackbeard's ghost, while Dunc remains skeptical. A quiet resident claims he invented the haunting to keep visitors away, but flames from his mouth make that explanation difficult to accept.

Dunc and Amos crash in the wilderness while trying hang gliding. Amos hopes a survival book can guide them, but their predicament worsens when a wild man holds them captive and they must find a way to escape.

Dunc and Amos enter the world of competitive skateboarding and befriend Lash, who plans to attempt a world record. When someone steals his prototype board, the boys set out to retrieve it before his chance disappears.

When a valuable doll once owned by Charles Dickens's daughter is stolen from a mall exhibition, Dunc and Amos investigate. Tracking the thieves brings them face to face with a vicious watchdog guarding what they hope to recover.

Dunc and Amos plan a Halloween route that will maximize their candy haul. Their evening takes an unexpected turn when a werewolf bite leaves Amos behaving like a puppy, complicating the friends' carefully arranged trick-or-treating plans.

Dunc and Amos encounter an elderly parrot in a pet store and discover that it speaks four languages. Learning that it has outlived ten owners draws the curious friends into an adventure centered on its unusual history.

Fourteen-year-old John Barron spends the summer alone caring for six thousand sheep, hoping to prove himself to his father. Flooding, coyotes, and an injured dog force him to rely on his own judgment and resourcefulness.

Dunc and Amos visit Uncle Woody's cattle ranch near Santa Fe, expecting a week of fun. Overhearing a plot against their host draws them into an investigation of cattle theft that threatens the ranch and its owner.

A narrator rides through snowy woods behind a team of sled dogs on a moonlit winter night. The illustrated prose poem follows their movement through the landscape, inviting readers to experience the sounds, beauty, and excitement of the journey.

Dunc and Amos expect two weeks of rules and bad food at camp, but a threat against the director changes their plans. Missing funds and matching red-flower tattoos lead the boys to investigate suspicious members of staff.

Amos wants to impress Melissa by performing on the trapeze at a visiting circus. Before Dunc can stop him, the friends uncover a backstage mystery, giving them another problem to solve amid the risks of Amos's ambitious plan.

A visit to Scotland brings Dunc and Amos to an ancient castle where groans emerge from walls and painted eyes seem to follow them. Stories about its headless former lord encourage the boys to investigate the apparent haunting.

Dunc and Amos investigate con artists who have cheated elderly townspeople. Meeting Betsy Dell and her unpleasant nephew raises their suspicions, while disturbed soil and a shovel in her shed suggest that something more dangerous may be happening.

When toxic waste appears in the school dumpster, Dunc and Amos try to identify the polluters. Their investigation becomes more alarming when Amos begins glowing in the dark, adding a strange complication to their search for the culprits.

Dunc, Amos, and cousin T.J. visit the mall for Christmas shopping, only to discover disappearing presents and suspicions surrounding Santa. The boys adopt seasonal disguises to catch an impostor before more gifts and Santa's reputation are lost.

Gary Paulsen recalls a childhood shaped by wartime Chicago, family instability, and a journey to the postwar Philippines. Traveling with his mother to rejoin his distant father exposes him to adult conflict and violence he cannot control.

Sent to relatives' farm for the summer, an eleven-year-old boy encounters exhausting chores and his cousin Harris's relentless pranks. Their adventures bring mishaps and friendship while offering a sense of home absent from his troubled family life.

These short stories explore human vulnerability, following moments that reveal people's strength and frailty. The collection examines how individuals face emotional strain, using spare accounts of human experience to consider the difficult circumstances that shape their lives.

After witnessing a murder, former sheriff Al Murphy reaches an Arizona town divided by rival businesses. Hired to protect the victim's sister's shipment, he becomes entangled in a struggle against the powerful merchant behind the violence.

Enslaved twelve-year-old Sarny wants to learn to read when Nightjohn arrives at her plantation. He has returned from freedom to teach others, but both face severe punishment in a society determined to keep enslaved people illiterate.

Fourteen-year-olds Rosa, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico City, and Traci, a girl from suburban Houston, face pressures surrounding beauty, youth, and popularity. Their parallel stories, presented in English and Spanish, explore the difficult choices their different environments impose.

A boy leaves the farm seeking excitement and knowledge as a runaway. After a frightening night with carnival people, he begins questioning whether growing up quickly and confronting the adult world will give him the freedom he expected.

Amos wins a Caribbean cruise in a contest about his dog and takes Dunc along. Something suspicious about his suitcase draws the friends into unexpected danger, forcing them to investigate who is threatening their long-awaited vacation.

Dunc and Amos meet an extraterrestrial named Girrk, whom Amos hides beneath his bed and promises to help home. When Amos develops strange new abilities, Dunc wonders what their unusual guest really wants from the boys.

Amos hopes tickets to a Road Kill concert will impress Melissa, so he asks Dunc for help. Their plans take them backstage, where a threat against the band turns an anticipated romantic outing into a dangerous investigation.

Dunc and Amos are asked to coach a T-ball team whose players barely understand the game. With the opener approaching, a threatening man in a limousine adds another problem to managing confused children and anxious parents.

Amos adopts leather clothes, slicked hair, and a false name after a threatening new student arrives. While the friends investigate a stolen-stereo racket, Dunc worries that Amos's attempts to act tough or undercover have gone too far.

A ski vacation puts Dunc and Amos near an Olympic champion attempting a slalom speed record. When Dunc suspects someone plans to sabotage the run, he races to intervene while Amos struggles with the slopes.

Thirteen-year-old Nikki Roberts tries to rescue two children trapped by a forest fire. Poachers interfere with her efforts and threaten her life, leaving Nikki to rely on her horse and experience as a hunting guide to survive.

Gary Paulsen recalls fishing and hunting adventures in northern Minnesota, both alone and with friends. These essays follow the changing seasons and describe the skills, mistakes and occasional luck involved in learning to live closely with the woods and rivers.

Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket falls behind his family's wagon train on the Oregon Trail and is captured by Pawnees. A one-armed mountain man offers help, but Francis must learn unfamiliar survival skills in a dangerous western landscape.

During a class visit to the state capital, Dunc and Amos meet a crown prince who looks exactly like Amos. The prince proposes switching places to expose a traitor, putting Amos's ability to impersonate royalty to the test.

Brett Wilder and Tom Houston enjoy a new virtual-reality game filled with monsters, hazards and a hostile king. When it begins controlling their minds, its imaginary dangers become real and every mistake threatens their lives.

Abandoned by his parents, fourteen-year-old Terry Anders builds a kit car and drives west to find a barely remembered uncle. Two wandering Vietnam veterans join his journey, introducing him to unfamiliar experiences and a different kind of guidance.

Will Little Bear Tucker and Sarah Thompson discover clues to an Apache legend in the Sacramento Mountains' caverns. Pursued by armed bandits and frightened by an eerie apparition, they must find their way through a dangerous underground maze.

Gary Paulsen describes the obsession with sled dogs that led him to attempt Alaska's Iditarod race. Preparations and life on the trail bring physical hardship, unpredictable dogs and encounters with wilderness that test his endurance and judgment.

Amos Binder has long adored Melissa Hansen without any sign that she notices him. When she suddenly begins flirting and using affectionate nicknames, Amos is delighted, but Dunc wants to understand what lies behind her surprising change.

Francis Tucket crosses the western prairie alone, searching for the family from whom he was separated. After rescuing two abandoned children, he must use the wilderness skills he learned from Mr. Grimes to protect more than himself.

Masked gunmen seize Roman Sanchez and three classmates, taking them to an isolated mountain cabin. Still grieving his father's death in police service, Roman must confront his fear as the boys search for a way to escape their captors.

Daniel Martin spends time outdoors to escape classmates who mock his learning difficulties. When a van crash throws him and several bullies into a river, his survival knowledge forces a choice between saving himself and risking his life for them.