Woods Runner

Woods Runner

• Genre: Fiction; young adult historical
• Originally Published: 2010
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 870L; grades 7-9
• Structure/Length: 19 chapters and epilogue plus author’s note and afterword; approx. 176 pages; approx. 3 hours, 42 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: In 1776, after British soldiers attack his Pennsylvania settlement and kidnap his parents, 13-year-old Samuel tracks the soldiers to New York. In his quest to rescue his parents, he witnesses the brutality of war but also meets new friends and allies.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence of war

Gary Paulsen, Author

• Bio: 1939-2021; born in Minnesota; struggled in school as a child, but grew to love reading; on the path to becoming a successful writer, worked in hunting and trapping and took up dogsled racing; after serving in the US Army, became a corporate aerospace field engineer; wrote adult fiction, nonfiction, and plays, but most well-known for his young adult stories of survival, nature, and coming of age; awarded Newbery Medal Honor citations for Dogsong (1985), Hatchet (1986), and The Winter Room (1989)
• Other Works: The River (1991); Winterdance (1994); Brian’s Winter (1996); The Trunsall Saga (1998)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The End of Childhood and Transition to Adulthood
• Civilization Versus Wilderness
• The Difference Between Justified and Gratuitous Violence

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the cultural and historical contexts of the 18th century that incite Samuel’s conflict.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections to the text’s themes of The End of Childhood and Transition to Adulthood, Civilization Versus Wilderness, and The Difference Between Justified and Gratuitous Violence.
• Research and demonstrate a frontier survival skill that illustrates Samuel’s adeptness on the frontier based on details from the text.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions regarding Samuel’s skills in the woods, Samuel’s coming-of-age journey, and other topics in structured essay responses.