Brandon Yates
Mrs. Kozak
English III
02 December 2011
Final Paper:
The 1990 's was a time known as the “Digital Decade”. A time when the Stock Market rocketed
and the internet took off. Along with technology becoming popular, Gary Paulsen was writing one of
his two hundred novels, The River. It showed how the U.S. Government wanted young Brian to go
back in the wilderness and reenact his survival skills he used a few years back, after he was involved in
a plane crash.
Gary Paulsen is a great novel and short story writer for people of all ages. He is one of
America 's most popular writers for young people, including adults and children (About). His life was
full of interesting things. Many of the things he did, including working on a farm over the summer in
his youthful years, and jobs such as being an engineer, construction worker, sailor, truck driver, and
ranch hand gave him lots of material to work with from which he created his great stories (About).
Throughout his life, since he started writing, he has written over 100 books and short stories and many
have became very popular.
Gary Paulsen was born May 17, 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota (About). His parents were
Oscar and Eunice Paulsen (Gary). In his youth he was never a “dedicated” student in school but he had
a passion for reading ever since he was very young (About). On a cold, wintery day, he walked into a
library to warm up with nothing to do. On the way out he had himself his own library card and a book
to read. From then on he was hooked to reading and writing (Gary). He spent many hours alone in the
basement of his apartment building, reading book after book after book. Soon after he acquired a taste
for adventure when he ran away from his home to travel with the carnival at the age of 14 (About).
Yates 2
In 1959, he attended Bemidji College in Minnesota, and he worked as a trapper to pay off
tuition
Cited: "About Gary." www.RandomHouse.com. Random House, Inc., 2004. Web. 29 Nov 2011. <http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/about.html>. "Biography of Gary Paulsen." usa-people-search.com. USA People Search, 2011. Web. 29 Nov 2011. <http://www.usa-people-search.com/content-biography-of-gary-paulsen.asp&xgt;. "Gary Paulsen." eolit.hrw.com. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2011. <http://eolit.hrw.com/hlla/authorbios/index2.jsp?author=8garypaulsen>. "1990s history ." www.thepeoplehistory.com. The People History, 2011. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1990s.html>. "Operation Desert Storm." www.gwu.edu. National Security Archive, 01/17/2001. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB39/>. The Digital Decade . The 90s. New York: Time-Life Books, 2000. pp. 63-86. Paulsen, Gary. The River. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1991.