Gary Paulsen Books in Order

Bobbie Walker resents her city cousin Alex's visit to their grandfather's ranch, and their arguments quickly escalate. Encounters with a dangerous bull and the hostile Bledsoe boys force the cousins to consider working together for their own safety.

Sheriff Al Murphy investigates the murders of a rancher and his family in New Mexico. Evidence points toward Apache raiders, but another killing complicates the pursuit and suggests a conspiracy behind the violence he is trying to stop.

Warren Trumbull is an outsider even in a land of warlocks and giants. Working for Prince Charming's rescue agency, he receives an assignment to destroy a Gorgon whose ability to turn people to stone makes failure especially dangerous.

A gunsmith creates an unusually accurate rifle in 1768, then sells it to support his family. Its passage through generations of owners connects different lives while raising questions about the danger concealed in a weapon treated as a treasured object.

Three friends exploring the cliffs of Devil's Wall discover a crashed bomber and a crew member's diary. As they uncover disturbing clues, the mountain's dangerous terrain confronts them with questions about what survival might require.

Steven and his father take an old army tent on the road, hoping to escape poverty by posing as preachers. As money begins to arrive, their supposed harmless deception raises uncomfortable questions about greed, power and guilt.

This picture book follows corn from seeds planted in the soil to tortillas made in a factory and delivered by truck. Workers at each stage reveal how farming, machinery and transportation connect to the food that sustains a community.

Dunc and Amos investigate the Chameleon, a criminal wanted in five states who can disguise herself as different people. Sneaking into her apartment seems the next step, but her shifting identities make their investigation uncertain and dangerous.

Amos suspects his sister Amy's new boyfriend is a vampire, given his pale appearance, strange disappearances and plans for a late-night Halloween gathering. He and Dunc investigate before Amy's romance can become something far more alarming.

Amos is mistaken for a government double agent and receives a secret assignment. His trench coat and dark glasses may suit the role, but handling actual espionage requires help from Dunc as the friends confront the consequences of mistaken identity.

A gorilla named Louise develops an attachment to Amos, making his life unexpectedly difficult. Dunc believes she is connected to a case involving assassins and a senator, drawing the friends into a mystery with an unusually powerful complication.

In this alternative continuation of Hatchet, Brian Robeson remains stranded in the Canadian wilderness after summer ends. The arrival of winter demands new survival strategies from a boy whose existing skills may no longer be enough to keep him alive.

Amos and his dog Scruff have never liked each other much. When Scruff becomes caught up in a dognapping operation, Amos and Dunc go undercover at the city pound to investigate and try to bring him home.

Al Murphy answers an old friend's plea to find her missing husband and sons. His search leads toward a powerful businessman extending his influence over nearby towns, placing the lawman against money and concealed loyalties.

Jim Stanton's family enjoys a new house and car after his father joins a New Mexico laboratory. A warning from strangers in the mountains makes Jim question the company's generosity and investigate what its comfortable promises might cost.

Gary Paulsen recalls life with Cookie, his trusted lead sled dog, as her final litter learns to pull a team. Their years together reveal the bond between a musher and the dogs who share his life.

Thirteen-year-old Jesse Rodriguez works at a flight and skydiving school near Seattle, waiting until he is old enough to jump. Evidence of drug-cartel smuggling draws him and his friend Robin into danger and raises doubts about Jesse's trusted mentor.

Chris Masters becomes absorbed in a computer game that arrives unexpectedly without a return address. As he plays more obsessively, the discovery that its world is real transforms an entertaining mystery into something he cannot safely treat as make-believe.

Tag Jones searches Bermuda's waters for the wreck his father died trying to find. When tourists hire him and his friend Cowboy to retrieve underwater parcels, the boys' diving skills draw them into a different kind of danger.

At winter sports events, Dunc and Amos agree to help a North Korean skater defect. When she suddenly denies asking for help and treats them with hostility, the boys must investigate a puzzling change that threatens their plans.

Justin McCallister enjoys life on a Montana sheep ranch until a grizzly begins attacking its animals. Determined to stop the bear himself, he sets out to track it and discovers that confronting it presents dangers he has underestimated.

Gary Paulsen recounts learning to work with sled dogs while living in northern Minnesota. Encounters with wildlife and the demands of life outdoors prepare him for a different challenge: his first attempt at the Iditarod race across Alaska.

Gary Paulsen recalls dogs that shaped his life, from a childhood puppy to hunting companions and working sled dogs. Individual stories explore their different personalities, protective instincts and the companionship that linked them to important moments in his past.

At fifty-seven, facing heart disease and the pressures of his writing career, Gary Paulsen buys a Harley-Davidson and rides from New Mexico toward Alaska. The journey prompts memories of hard work, demanding adventures and people who helped him persevere.

As the Civil War ends, Sarny leaves the plantation where she was enslaved and searches for her children, who were sold away. Her journey confronts the uncertainty of freedom and the struggle to build a life in a changing America.

Amos believes a junkyard owner is a retired superhero, while Dunc remains doubtful. When a sinister professor appears to control the city council and threatens the town's money, the friends need to investigate whether their unlikely neighbor can help.

Ryan Swanner moves to Black Water Lake, where locals tell stories of a creature beneath the surface. His new friend dismisses the legend, but vanishing wildlife and a suspicious lack of fish make Ryan question what inhabits the water.

Fourteen-year-old Harold Schernoff believes science can solve problems involving dating, bullies, money and sports. When he and his friend test those theories, their disastrous experiments turn ordinary teenage difficulties into comic adventures that challenge Harold's confidence in his methods.

Twins Jeremy and Jason Parsons are left to run their grandparents' ski lodge while their grandfather recovers in hospital. Strange incidents disrupt the business, leading the brothers to suspect a secret society called the Broken Tree.

Zack Griffin and Jeff Brown visit a laboratory and encounter a machine that sends them into ancient Egypt. Discovering a plot against King Tut, the boys must decide whether to interfere with events far from their own time.

Francis Tucket travels west with Lottie and Billy, hoping to find his family. Winter drives them south into the Mexican War, where capture by Comanchero outlaws puts their survival and Francis's responsibility for the younger children to the test.

Rhyming verses follow people through their working day, showing the many jobs that keep a community going. Ruth Wright Paulsen's paintings accompany this picture book about the effort, skill and shared purpose behind everyday work.

Katie and Sam arrive in New Mexico to meet their anthropologist father, who is studying ancient cliff dwellings. When he fails to appear at the airport, their search raises fears about the ruins and a possible curse.

After his parents die in a hit-and-run, Andy Hawkes goes to live with his inventor grandfather. Suspecting their deaths were deliberate, Andy turns to an unusual invention as a new threat puts his grandfather in danger.

Fifteen-year-old Charley Goddard joins the Minnesota volunteers in 1861, expecting the Civil War to offer excitement. Combat exposes him to fear, injury and killing, forcing him to confront what war does to a young soldier.

A strange blue light interrupts thirteen-year-old Mark's desert camping trip and transports him to an unfamiliar world. Surrounded by red plants and rival tribes, he struggles to survive, understand his surroundings and find a way home.

Francis Tucket, Lottie and Billy continue toward Oregon in search of Francis's family. Encounters with soldiers, an English explorer and mountain man Jason Grimes complicate their journey, while the ancient treasure they carry brings further danger.

A shy fourteen-year-old struggling at school and at home accepts his grandmother Alida's invitation to work on a farm. Away from his parents' troubles, he finds guidance, practical responsibilities and a chance to build confidence.

Brian Robeson finds ordinary school life difficult after surviving alone in the wilderness. A fight and conversations with a counselor deepen his sense of displacement, leading him back into the Canadian woods to seek a place he belongs.

A quiet canoe trip becomes an opportunity to watch fish, ducks and animals along a lake's shore. Lyrical prose and Ruth Wright Paulsen's illustrations invite readers to notice the small movements and sounds of the natural world.

Francis Tucket and the children Lottie and Billy cross the prairie with little food or water and Comanchero outlaws pursuing them. An unexpected discovery of ancient treasure adds another complication to their struggle to stay alive together.

A sixteen-year-old boy escapes an abusive home and works in North Dakota's beet fields alongside migrant laborers. Moving between farm work and carnival jobs, he encounters friendship, desire and hard lessons about becoming independent.

In a future America controlled by a brutal occupying force, fourteen-year-old Cody Pierce rebels against his captors. His escape draws him into the resistance, where learning to fight means facing the responsibility of helping other imprisoned children.

Gary Paulsen recalls learning to sail with little knowledge and a deep attraction to the ocean. Encounters with storms, sharks and unreliable boats reveal both the dangers of his mistakes and the experiences that kept him returning to sea.

Gary Paulsen recounts the real encounters that helped shape Hatchet and the other Brian books. Emergency work, hunting, animal attacks and wilderness mishaps show how practical survival knowledge and frightening experiences found their way into fiction.

Sixteen-year-old Brian Robeson returns to the Canadian wilderness, traveling by canoe and living from the land. Finding an injured dog makes him worry about its owners, drawing him toward a danger beyond the demands of surviving alone.

Gary Paulsen remembers the dangerous experiments he and his friends attempted as young teenagers. Improvised flying, high-speed skiing and other reckless challenges turn these autobiographical stories into an account of curiosity, friendship and questionable judgment.

Twelve-year-old Tony sketches dancers at the club where his mother works. When the drawings reach a public exhibition, social services question her parenting, and Tony's mother fights to defend their family and his right to make art.

Sixth-grader Molly McGinty depends on her organized notebook to keep life under control. Losing it on the day her unpredictable grandmother joins her at school turns an ordinary schedule into a series of increasingly chaotic mishaps.

During World War II, a six-year-old boy stays with his grandmother Alida while women keep the local farms running. As they gather for a birth and sew a quilt, their family stories introduce him to love, courage and loss.

Seventh-grader Dorso Clayman is used to strange objects appearing in his locker, but the latest prank draws him and his friend into real history. They must understand the time hackers' scheme before becoming stranded in the past.

Twelve-year-old Duane Homer Leech records twenty days of embarrassing changes, awkward encounters and school disasters as puberty takes over his life. Watching a baby bird outside his window offers an unexpected companion to his own uncertain growing up.

This fictionalized account follows Bass Reeves from enslavement through escape and life in Indian Territory to his work as a deputy marshal. Survival, racial prejudice and encounters with criminals shape the story of his pursuit of freedom and justice.

A twelve-year-old receives his grandfather's riding mower and starts cutting neighbors' lawns. A deal with stockbroker Arnold turns a small summer job into a growing business, introducing the boy to investing and the unexpected complications of making money.

Mudshark's sharp memory makes him his school's unofficial detective, until a supposedly psychic parrot challenges his reputation. Missing erasers and other strange incidents give him a chance to prove that careful observation can solve the school's mysteries.

Fifteen-year-old Finn hopes for a quiet summer with little human contact. When his new neighbor Johanna, who has breast cancer, hires him to build a garden, friendship and caring for someone draw him beyond his isolation.

After British forces attack his frontier settlement, thirteen-year-old Samuel discovers his parents have been taken prisoner. Using his knowledge of the woods, he follows their trail toward New York and encounters the violence of the American Revolution.

Lawn Boy's mowing business has made him wealthy, but a television interview brings publicity he never wanted. Friends demand a share of the action, and trouble around the boxer he sponsors complicates his wish to keep cutting grass.

With his allowance stopped as punishment for lying, Kevin Spencer decides to become an entrepreneur. Poker games, garage cleaning and food sales promise quick money, but his shortcuts and disregard for other people create problems he hasn't planned for.

Kevin Spencer believes his talent for lying makes life easier, especially when avoiding schoolwork or pursuing a crush. As his inventions entangle friends, teachers and family, he must confront the damage caused by stories he can no longer control.

Henry Mosley decides he and his friends need adventures worth remembering. Riley and Reed follow his plans for record attempts, wilderness exploits and dangerous experiments, discovering that escaping boredom can lead straight into trouble.

Three novellas follow young people facing violence, difficult homes and isolation. Encounters with art, dogs and people who offer care open possibilities for connection, as each tries to make sense of a world that gives them little security.

Kevin Spencer wants to ask Tina Zabinski out, but nerves and a handsome rival complicate his plans. He tries studying romance through experiments on friends and family, creating fresh trouble while searching for a way to express his feelings.

Ben reluctantly joins his father and their dog Atticus on a trip to rescue a border collie. A breakdown brings unexpected traveling companions, while Ben's friend Theo carries trouble that threatens their already strained family adventure.

Kevin Spencer enters the race for student-body president when rival Cash Devine starts attracting attention. Confident in his leadership and campaign skills, Kevin faces an opponent with a capable manager and the complications of his own motives.

Kevin Spencer takes charge when his relatives plan a double wedding in the family backyard. Hoping to impress his girlfriend Tina, he tries to manage the celebrations, but arriving guests and family tensions soon overwhelm his carefully imagined plans.

Ben wants to attend a hockey academy tryout, while his father insists they catch up with a school field trip. Traveling with two dogs and unexpected companions, Ben develops a secret plan that makes their journey increasingly complicated.

Gary Paulsen recalls encounters with dogs, horses, birds, and other animals that shaped his life. From wilderness rescues to unexpected companionship, these true stories explore the intelligence and loyalty he discovered beyond the boundaries of human understanding.

An orphan raised in a woodland cabin remembers the old man who taught him to survive and respect nature. Fishbone's changing stories and practical lessons become a way to understand the bond that shaped the boy's life.

A severe storm forces six students to shelter together in a school bathroom, with a stuffed cat for company. Their awkward confinement becomes a comic encounter between strangers, and an accompanying script lets readers perform the story.

Gary Paulsen recounts a turbulent childhood through moments that shaped his connection to wilderness and storytelling. This memoir follows a boy searching for safety and direction, offering insight into the experiences behind his later survival novels.

Embarrassed by his father's pursuit of life off the grid, twelve-year-old Carl turns to a puppy-training pamphlet for help. His attempt to retrain Dad, encouraged by a friend, leads to consequences he never expected.

When plague reaches his fishing camp, orphan Leif escapes in a cedar canoe and heads north along a rugged coast. With no clear destination, he must navigate dangerous waters and learn to survive in an unfamiliar wilderness.