Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 17, 1939, Gary Paulsen was raised by his grandmother in northern Minnesota while his mother worked in a Chicago munitions plant and his father, a career military officer, was abroad during World War II. In 1946, when he was seven, Paulsen moved with his mother to the Philippines and saw his father for the first time. The family returned to the United States in 1949. Moving frequently because of his father's military assignments, Paulsen was shy and unathletic and had both social and academic problems in school.

Paulsen credits several events with turning his life around. As a teen-ager he met a public librarian who gave him a library card and turned him into a voracious reader who devoured books.

Later, an army drill sergeant helped in building his confidence. While in the army, Paulsen began to work with missiles and, after...