Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood

　　紐伯瑞兒童文學獎得主，《手斧男孩》Hatchet系列作者蓋瑞．伯森（Gary Paulsen），自傳味濃厚的回憶錄小說，擅長以自然與青少年成長蛻變的小說家。用最真實的故事溫暖你我的心。用第三人稱描述一名少年。

　　少時的顛沛流離，跟著父母遊居各地，先是母親為勞軍來到芝加哥，周旋於酒吧裡的男人堆中賣藝獻唱。年僅五歲的男孩，給遠在明尼蘇達州的奶奶與阿姨叔叔照顧著，過了幾年田園生活。卻不敵父母的堅持，硬帶著他遠赴太平洋的一端定居馬尼拉，卻目睹慘絕人寰的戰後生活窘境。幼年的陰影揮之不去，長年的遷徙造成不穩定的生活，最後十幾歲時回到故鄉的北達科他州，遇上了改變一生的圖書館員。他給了十三歲男孩第一本書，開啟他的閱讀之路，從成為讀者開始，漸漸蛻變為說故事的人。

　　成年後，男孩從軍，軍旅的慘況，讓他再次回憶起幼年馬尼拉的恐怖回憶，矢志作個故事人，用故事溫暖周遭的靈魂。

　　溫暖心與荒涼的北方草原，讓無數青少年為之瘋狂的兒童作家蓋瑞．伯森，用自己的故事，最真實的心路歷程，與讀者分享。

A mesmerizing memoir from three-time Newbery Honor-winning author Gary Paulsen--whose books have sold over 35 million copies worldwide--giving readers a new perspective on the origins of his blockbuster contemporary classic Hatchet and other famed survival stories.

＂Leaves you gritting your teeth and clutching the pages . . . Haunted me as a reader.＂ --The New York Times Book Review

★ ＂This literary treasure is written for book lovers of any age.＂ --Shelf Awareness, starred review

His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival adventures. Now, beloved author Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments from his turbulent childhood as his own original survival story. If not for his summer escape from a shockingly neglectful Chicago upbringing to a North Woods homestead at age five, there never would have been a Hatchet. Without the encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book at age thirteen, he may never have become a reader. And without his desperate teenage enlistment in the Army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller.

An entrancing and critically lauded account of grit and growing up, perfect for newcomers and lifelong fans alike, Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood is literary legend Gary Paulsen at his rawest and most real.

Don’t miss Gary Paulsen’s other acclaimed books from Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers: the father-son comedy How to Train Your Dad and the page-turning survival adventure Northwind.

Gary Paulsen is the winner of the ALA Margaret Edwards Award for his contribution to young adult literature, and is a three-time Newbery Honor winner, for Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. He lives in New Mexico.