Brian's Return (Brian's Saga Series #4) » (Reprint)

Gary Paulsen is one of the most honored writers of contemporary literature for young readers. He has written more than one hundred book for adults and young readers, and is the author of three Newbery Honor titles: Dogsong, Hatchet, and The Winter Room. He divides his time among Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, and the Pacific.

For more than a decade, readers and reviewers everywhere have praised Gary Paulsen's exciting stories about brave Brian Robeson. In the Newbery Honor book Hatchet, 13-year-old Brian was stranded in the Canadian wilderness with only the clothes on his back and a hatchet to help him survive. The River brought 15-year-old Brian back to the wilderness for a government project -- where he was left with a wounded partner and a rapid river to navigate. An alternative sequel, Brian's Winter, posed the question: What if Brian had not been rescued? Now comes Brian's Return -- the final, gripping conclusion to Paulsen's extraordinary saga.

VOYA

It has been two years since the small plane crashed in the wilderness and Brian is now nearly sixteen. No matter how hard he tries, he does not fit into today's fast-paced world. He longs for the solitude of the northern lakes and woods. After a vicious fight with a high school football player, Brian is sent to a counselor to work out his problems. Brian just wants to go back home to the woods. Paulsen spends sixty pages of this novel preparing Brian for his trip back to the northern wilderness. The reader learns in great detail about specific types of bows and arrows, as well as other camping/survival equipment. With a canoe and his bow and arrows, Brian blends back into the woods and waterways he loves so much. An encounter with a bear and a torrential rainstorm only remind him that one must prepare for the unexpected in the wilderness. Also unexpected is the arrival of the old woodsman, Billy. When Brian tells Billy about the deer he saw that day, and how it looked directly at him, Billy says that it is Brian's "medicine deer" and he must listen to what the deer tells him. In the morning Brian finds a rawhide loop with a bit of whitetail deer tail and a crow feather tied to it-medicine to guide him. Brian dips his paddle into the water and as his canoe silently glides through the pristine wilderness he knows that he will follow his medicine, wherever it will take him. Paulsen fans will love this final chapter in Brian's quest for the woodsman's way of life. The author's note explains that the things that happen to Brian in the four novels-Hatchet (Simon & Schuster, 1987/VOYA February 1988), The River (Delacorte, 1991/VOYA August 1991), Brian's Winter (Delacorte, 1996/VOYA February 1997), and Brian's Return-have happened to Paulsen during his life-long romance with the wilderness. VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M (Readable without serious defects, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8).