Rifles figure in several of Paulsen's books.

He is well versed in their use and knows much about their history. Paulsen has also shown much concern for the lost lives of young people killed before they reach maturity. This is most evident in Soldier's Heart (please see separate entry) which in tone and content is foreshadowed by Paulsen's The Rifle.Soldier's Heart is a blunt depiction of Civil War combat. Based on the real-life experiences of Charley Goddard, the novel is an account of Charley's experiences from the time he enlists in the Union army at age fifteen to a couple of years after the Civil War when he is twenty-one and his life is in shambles. The title is taken from what Americans called Civil War veterans who seemed mentally lost because of the war; we would, Paulsen suggests, call it "posttraumatic stress...