Paulsen has written several novels that seem based, in part, on his own personal experiences in the woods and on his desire to understand the lessons that the woods can provide for people.

In Hatchet, thirteen-year-old Brian learns to survive alone in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. The River, the sequel to Hatchet, relates Brian's experiences when he is asked to relive his adventures while a psychologist studies his reactions. The controlled experiment turns into a problem of survival when disaster once again strikes. Tracker is the story of a boy's first season of hunting alone because his grandfather is dying of cancer. It is the story of his learning to deal with the death of his grandfather and of the doe that he is tracking. Fourteen-yearold Russel in Dogsong is a young Eskimo boy who journeys across the tundra with a dog sled...