This Side of Wild: Mutts, Mares, and Laughing Dinosaurs

by Gary Paulsen

In the National Book Award longlist book This Side of Wild , Newbery Honor–winning author Gary Paulsen shares surprising true stories about his relationship with animals, highlighting their compassion, intellect, intuition, and sense of adventure.

Gary Paulsen is an adventurer who competed in two Iditarods, survived the Minnesota wilderness, and climbed the Bighorns. None of this would have been possible without his truest companions: his animals. Sled dogs rescued him in Alaska, a sickened poodle guarded his well-being, and a horse led him across a desert. Through his interactions with dogs, horses, birds, and more, Gary has been struck with the belief that animals know more than we may fathom.

His understanding and admiration of animals is well known, and in This Side of Wild , which has taken a lifetime to write, he proves the ways in which they have taught him to be a better person.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Adventure, Memoir, Biography, Middle Grade, Childrens

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2015

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Memoirs are a huge part of Gary Paulsen's career. He led a life of fascinating variety, from driving sled dogs over hundreds of miles of frozen Alaskan wilderness, to cruising the Pacific Ocean alone in small boats; from serving in the U.S. military, to living in Midwestern solitude with his wife and a menagerie of animals. As he did in Woodsong, My Life in Dog Years, and Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers, Gary Paulsen delivers a new batch of his adventures in This Side of Wild: Mutts, Mares, and Laughing Dinosaurs, acclaiming the intelligence and boundless loyalty of the animals he has known.

Successful at writing Western fiction, Gary Paulsen bought a pair of horses to do some exploring in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. He knew little about managing horses, but his border collie Josh (an unforgettable character from My Life in Dog Years) had the presence to inspect the horses Paulsen planned to buy and give him the silent okay. Paulsen learned a great deal roaming the mountains with Josh and those horses. Later, after twenty years' absence from racing sled dogs due to heart issues, Paulsen could no longer resist the call of the Iditarod, and moved to Alaska to train a new team of dogs. While the dogs were away for summer, Paulsen needed a canine to keep watch for bears and wolves, but the only one available was Corky, an eight-pound toy poodle from a shelter. Corky's medical bills cost Paulsen more than $1,000 before the poodle set foot in his house, but he was worth every cent. The tiny dog had a finely tuned sense of danger, essential for Paulsen to remain safe working outside in wild Alaska. Corky wouldn't tolerate animals encroaching on his territory, and he guarded Paulsen with crazy devotion. The poodle became the latest in a long line of extraordinary dogs Paulsen owned.

A troubled young soldier in 1959, Paulsen's anxiety lessened after meeting elderly Mr. Winnike. The man had a mynah bird named Betty with absurd talent for vocal mimicry, and a dog named Gretchen who Mr. Winnike claimed was intelligent beyond human reckoning. Gretchen recognized and responded to hundreds of English words, but beyond that, she comprehended abstract themes in conversation. She and Paulsen developed a system of communication as effective as traditional language, and their talks soothed him during a rough time in his life. We move ahead to the story of Brette Howard, an old lady with a lap dog named Faulkner. She insisted Faulkner was clairvoyant, and Paulsen came to agree; everything Lady Brette predicted for Paulsen turned out to be accurate, and in incredible detail. Soon Paulsen was tending sheep with a man named Louie and his border collie Louise, who understood caring for sheep better than Paulsen or Louie. She did most of the work, but loved Paulsen until a mistake he made soured their friendship. You don't always get a second chance with animals. Paulsen rounds out this book with anecdotes about the savvy and tenacity of wild creatures. Bees and little birds in secluded rest areas along the California interstate don't appreciate people messing up their plans, and ravens are relentless if they feel you've wronged them. Paulsen learned that after accidentally crossing a raven caught in a poacher's trap. Nature is brimming with wonders, but don't take it lightly or you might not survive the great outdoors.

This Side of Wild is nowhere near as emotional, wise, or cogent as Woodsong or Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers. It's closer to Paulsen's Caught by the Sea, though it lacks that book's captivating scenes. Still, I love Paulsen's memoir literature, and This Side of Wild includes a couple of good stories. The best, in my opinion, is Gretchen, a dog Paulsen bared his soul to by "discussing" things they liked and didn't like. Is there any better way to get to know someone? His belief that they were truly communicating was reinforced by meaningful gestures on Gretchen's part when Paulsen needed them most.

I prefer most if not all of the author's other memoirs, but This Side of Wild has its own magic. Gary Paulsen's experiences with nature contain lessons for everyone.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've taught middle school for a long time, and often used Gary Paulsen's introductions to his books as mentor texts. Just find "The Winter Room" and its introduction ("Tuning") so beautifully sharing that books cannot have smells, or sound, or light, since these must be supplied by the reader in response to the author's words. They are wonderful examples of drawing the reader in immediately, with passion for whatever the topic is he's going to tell us about. This book, the intro and the final words, is no different. I always feel as if I'm sitting down with Paulsen, having an intimate conversation, him telling stories, me adding my own thoughts. Where else could one hear about a dog named Gretchen with whom he had many conversations, who guided him into wonders of the world he would never have seen? It is an easy book to read, and one that might make you wonder a little more about that squirrel that keeps looking in your window. It might make a good read aloud for a class who'd made observing the outdoors an important part of their days.

[Caren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an ARC of this book, so I won't quote any passages, as small changes may be made in the final version. I liked this book a lot just because of Mr. Paulsen's openness to the idea that we humans should acknowledge the strengths animals possess and which we humans do not. He has, throughout his life, observed animals show innate skills lacking in humans. The chapters almost felt like stand-alone stories as he remembered animals he had known. In particular, I liked his story of a tiny, elderly poodle he rescued from a shelter who saved him from a bear. Being a dog-lover, I had to smile in thinking of how closely dogs partner with people, so that inter-species communication, and not size, matters. In fact, dogs figure into many of his memories. As an aside and not related to this book, years ago---in the late 1980s---when I still worked in a kindergarten, I went to a conference about children's books at our state university. Gary Paulsen was one of the attending authors. It must have been early in his writing career. There were not very many attendees at his early-morning talk. Afterwards, per the usual for author events, he was available to sign his book (which I suppose, at the time, was "Hatchet"). I remember him as rather gruff and obviously not at all enjoying his task. He came across as abrupt and one who doesn't suffer fools gladly. I can smile to remember that, as you can kind of get that impression of him from his books, too. Still, he is a wonderful writer. I am glad to share his adventures vicariously, including those in this newest book.

[Ms. Cascio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen

If you were lucky enough to read Hatchet you know that the author, Gary Paulsen, is capable of writing great stories. He has recently written an autobiography with a theme centering around the animals in his life. If you love your pet or even the wildlife around you, reading this book will touch your soul. Specific parts of the book will pull at your heartstrings and might even help you answer the question, “Does this animal really understand me?” In this story, Gary shares unique experiences with us from his real life. This book provides evidence of animals living with a developed intellect. The events in this book infer that animals can actually have a real sense of understanding what’s going on more than some people may have given them credit for in the past. The author shares with us his life but with a higher purpose of explaining how important animals and pets really are if you are lucky enough to have them in your life.

[Hunter Falish]

The book "This Side of Wild", is by Gary Paulsen, and talks about his experiences with animals that have made an impact on his life. Many of the animals he talks about in this book are dogs. To begin, he talks about one of his pets as a child, a large work horse, that he used to play with. He used to play Cowboys and Indians with a friend from this horse's back. That is, until the day the horse said enough was enough. Gary had made a homemade bow that he had been aiming at the barn wall. The only problem is that when he let the arrow go, it bounced off the back of the horse's head. That was all it took and Gary was sailing through the air after being bucked off the horse. The horse then walked away from him and never allowed him to play near him again. This taught Gary to respect animals, and their power, as the horse could have very easily hurt him severely instead of walking away. He then goes on to talk about a mangled guard dog pet poodle named Corky that he saved from a shelter in Alaska. He explained how protective the toy size dog was of him, and how he more than once alerted him of bears and other animals he could not see. He then talks about crows and another bird and one last dog named Gretchen. He explained in a hard to understand way how he had communicated with this dog, and how it had trained him instead of him training her. I'll leave the rest of the book for others to read and find out what happens.

I will say this the stories that Gary tells throughout the book are very amusing. I also liked how he uses a very different view for as to why things happen in life instead of the common view that humans rule everything. The other thing I liked about this book was that I could make many connections between his life and books he has written. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was that some of the animal training humans part with the dog Gretchen was hard to follow. This may just be because I'm not used to thinking about human animal relationships like that.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Gary Paulsen books or for a fun laugh now and then.

[MrsDogood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hoped the powerful combination of Paulsen's skill as a writer and being on the long list for the National Book Award would make this an enjoyable read. And it is--for teens and adults. Paulsen's meandering pace and sophisticated phrasing/language will be challenging for anyone under 14 (I'm using that age because it's the Newbery cutoff). It also may be difficult for anyone under that age to relate to Paulsen's adult angst- military service, nuclear war, alcoholic parents - that he works out through relationships with the animals he writes about. Finally, is anyone else bothered by the jacket art which depicts a scene that doesn't seem to happen in the book? I've re-read chapter one and Corky is in the house when Paulsen encounters the grizzly. I lost interest in this title after chapter four and put the book down so perhaps I missed it.

[Valeria Navarro (Valeriia.Navarr) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the type of book thats meant to turn into a classic.
And it should.

[Kmeyer_22 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a big fan of Gary Paulsen books but I really liked this book. I thought It was cool how most of the things that happened are true. The short stories are Gary Paulsen's adventures over his lifetime. I thought it was funny because when I looked the boom up I learned the dog on the front was a toy. One of the short stories was about him dog sledding. He talked about a dog named Gretchen that found her own way of communication. I really like books about nature and for these things to be true make it even better. I think it is cool that Gary Paulsen did all this stuff and still found time to write books. In one of the storys, there was a bear in his back yard. I would be so scared and I would never leave my house. I recommend this book to people who like books about nature or who like Gary Paulson.

[Cole Syring]

This is a really good book to read if your an outdoor person. It gives you a whole different look on the outdoors. It really shows how different types of animals live and do. It compares the difference between house pets and animals that live in the wild that couldn't live in houses. It helps you get ready to camp in the outdoors or want to live in the wilderness just read this book and that will help you out. If you want to be a hunter this book helps you out knowing where certain animals live and will be. I thought this book helped me learn more about the outdoors. I learned a whole new things on brown bears and what they do and eat if they can't catch fish. I really think it helped me with going hunting more and now I know where to look for animals and hunt them. I also gave me a little better understanding on fishing and what to use when you fish to catch certain fish.

[Ryan King]

To be honest, I really liked this book. It was interesting in some parts, but I just didn't like it that much. I usually like Gary Paulsen's books. But a reason I kind of liked this book was because it had to do with the wild. He had to train his dog for the iditarod in the book. This is why I like the book. I like it because I've learned about the Iditarod and it is interesting. The dog probably had to go through a lot of training. It was a small dog too. I dont get why he would use that dog for the race. The dog also scared a bear off. It was a crazy book.

[Alexander Alicea-Smyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book, though it is a little confusing at times. One moment was when they were talking about Gretchen being able to communicate with people. It has a lot of stuff with animals that is interesting. Overall, the book was a great read.

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Gary Paulsen. So I was surprised to find this new book at the library. How had I missed it's debut!?! I plunged into it.

~
THIS SIDE OF WILD isn't a long book and I read it in a few hours. I think it's a combination of true life and exaggeration. But I could be wrong.

I do know that it draws on Gary's diverse life experiences. It touches upon a time when he was in the army, as well as when he was a wee child. He recalls his experiences running the Iditarod and living in the desert. Tying all these episodes together are the animals he has loved and admired. And in fact this book is all about the magic of life and the magic dogs and horses and birds can bring to it.

The stories are wonderful in the way that Paulsen's works always are. However I'm going to add some observations that are critical. First, there is a jumpy feeling to the book. In the midst of a story the author will look back in time. It adds depth of understanding where Gary is coming from, but the feel and flow is different from previous books.

*The jumps in time actually have a virtuous side in that there are natural stops that can be used by anyone reading the tales aloud.

The other thing I'll note, but which really isn't criticism, is that some sensitive younger children might find some of the discussions of death distressing. There is nothing graphic of course, but the book talks about the hundreds of thousands that died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as those who were killed by wild life and accidents. These things are not dwelled upon but I know that some kids don't need them to be emphasized to be distressed by them.

WHAT I REALLY THINK::: THIS SIDE OF WILD is a wonderful collection of stories about the wonder of dogs, horses and birds. Gary talks about how its frequently animals that train us, not the other way around. How dogs and horses can show kindness and intellect if you only know to patiently look for it. And how an 8 pound poodle with only 3 teeth can growl down a grizzly.

Not perfect but so worth the read.

[EAMONN HAYES · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I chose is This Side Of Wild by Gary Paulsen. It is about Gary Paulsen's life and it is pretty amazing what he has done. He has competed in two Iditarod's, survived the Minnesota wilderness, and climbed the Bighorn Mountains. Animals were a very big part in this book to name a few the sled dogs rescued him in Alaska, a sickened poodle guarded his well-being, and a horse led him through a long journey across a desert. And if you like adventure I would recommend this book also because it is full of life skills.

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often struggle when trying to be objective and review books for younger readers. Gary Paulsen makes it easy though with This Side of Wild because it doesn't read like it's intended for a certain age group: it reads like a guy reminiscing and telling stories about animals (and some humans, too). If I had picked this up without any knowledge of the audience I would only have thought it short at about 120 pages. Very conversationally, Paulsen tells stories, often interrupting himself to tell a little aside that will illuminate his current story even further. At first I found his self interruptions mildly distracting but very quickly it makes sense, just a guy sharing perspective.

That perspective is worth gleaning in itself. Paulsen mentions in passing how humans tend to think of themselves as so superior to all other animals. Then he procedes to show us again and again that we're often selling them short, whether it be a tiny poodle named Corky who looked out for his human or a mare who took interest in the pursuit of a jackrabbit by a couple of coyotes and ended up protecting the rabbit. There are all kinds of stories in here but probably the story of a dog named Gretchen is the most compelling and it is basically the centerpiece of this book. All said, this little tome was an enjoyable read, like sitting around a campfire with a master storyteller.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I can say about Gary Paulsen is that he knows how to tell a good story. And the man has definitely had some interesting experiences in his life. This particular book focuses on a few of the experiences he has had with animals. While the stories do get a bit rambling as he alternates between the time of the story and previous experiences, the stories themselves are fascinating. Everything from getting bitten by a rattlesnake to his guard poodle who warned him about a bear, to a very intelligent dog are shared here. I could have done without some of the language but any child reader who is fascinated by animals (and many of them are) should find something to ponder here as Paulsen shares his feelings about the intelligence and care of animals. Paulsen reminds the reader how much poorer the world would be without our animal companions.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

middlegrade nonfiction. Gary Paulsen true adventure stories with more animals? I thought he couldn't miss with that one, but I found the entries inside a bit fragmented, like partial journal entries from a mind that wanders a lot. Which still might be really good, but I was hoping for something that younger kids might pick up and get into right away, and after 18 pages I hadn't found that.

[Hallie Nevermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Its terrible dont read it. Very confusing.

[Lane Hiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Paulsen is a brilliant writer and an even more brilliant outdoorsman. In this book, Paulsen presents a collection of stories. Each one contains new information and insight into the brilliance of animals. Paulsen discusses animals brilliance in forms of protection, trust, and guidance. The stories would easily come off as fictional to people who do not know Paulsen and his accomplished career as an outdoorsman and animal lover. From dogs and horses working together to believing animals train us, Paulsen details events he experienced in his life that shed light on the idea that animals serve a far greater purpose than to be trained and listen. They are here to learn, train, and better our lives.

This book is a work of art. The stories are nearly unbelievable as I found myself in a near disbelief while reading the book. The idea of a dog being able to communicate and have a near human like interaction is crazy. But the way Paulsen tells it makes me feel like there is no way anyone could make that up. With the new videos you see on the internet now of animals pushing buttons to convey emotion, hunger, thoughts, it is totally reasonable that Paulsen's stories are early representations of that cognitive function. The book tugs on the heart strings a bit as it is nearly impossible for someone like me who loves animals to read this and not feel overwhelmed with happiness in some of the events that take place during the book. An absolute if you love animals and think they might be trying to tell you something.

[Alaena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen is about Gary's life living in Alaska and all of the touching moments he has with nature, one of them being a huge brown bear staring him down. The book starts with Gary talking about getting a watch dog, he had been worried about animals trying to attack him while he was trying to work in the yard so he wanted someone to protect him, he ended up buying an 8 pound tiny poodle mix but the dog ended up saving his life from bears, moose, and other animals. The book then goes on to talk about Gary's interaction with a dog that could understand a conversation, the dog nodded and agreed with the things he was saying and even sat at the table with them drinking his coffee. Gary also worked at a barn for a little while, he helped take care if the sheep who were going into labor, he had a frightning incident with a coyote there who attacked all the sheep and left a lot of them dead. The two other things he talks about were his sled dogs and the ravens, he talks about how wise and smart ravens are and how they figured out how to steal food and get water from his sled dogs. I thought this was a pretty good book, it definently makes you think about nature in a whole different way and it makes you want to go visit Alaska, I would give it 4/5 stars just because it jumped around a lot and got a tiny confusing. It connected me with nature because it talks about how animals don't know anything but their extincts and people will still shoot them and kill them when they really aren't doing anything wrong at all, there was also the chapter about the crows and the ravens and I think it really shows how clever a lot of animals can be. You wouldn't think that a raven would be that smart but animals really can surprise you.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for your nature-loving, hunting, outdoorsy MS or HS kids! Like How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals, this is a collection of personal vignettes from Paulsen's life experiences, each a different lesson he's learned from animals. It's a slow, gentle roll with some fascinating moments and lessons. He really makes me love dogs, although I don't appreciate his total reverence for all natural beings except mosquitos, ticks, and cats, which are "all take and no give." I'm disheartened that there isn't a single nice story about cats in his collection!

Anyway, I needed to be in the right mood for this book, and on the way home from a festival wasn't it; I almost abandoned it. Later, when I was stressed out, this was a welcomed calm. I learned some disturbing things about bears, predators in general, and how intelligent and utterly vindictive ravens are. And, it makes me want to have a canine companion in my life, which I resent.

I think your outdoorsy kids will love this if they are patient, slow, and observant types.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In select snippets from his lifetime of interacting with animals, Gary Paulsen describes preparing to dogsled the Iditarod through the Alaskan wilderness and facing off with the murder of smart, mischievous ravens. He writes reverently about a dog named Gretchen that figured out her special means of communication and then trained her human companions how to speak it. And he affectionately honors the sickly, nine-pound toy poodle that once saved his life from an overly curious grizzly bear lurking near his backyard.
The reason I very like this book, because Gary Paulsen knows for his YA novel Hatchet. He reflects on him about 70 years of living, among and through animals in This Side of Wild. The writing perhaps ventures into the land of the slightly mystical, but for anyone who’s ever grown close with an animal, the connection is undeniably real. Paulsen keen observations encourage readers to reflect on the “humanity” and wisdom of the animal kingdom’s creatures, both the domesticated and the wild.

[Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This side of wild” by Gary Paulsen is an adventure book about himself that shares a great story about how animals change the world. Gary tries to beat all of these challenges about adventure. As an example he climbed one of the biggest mountains and did the longest dog sled ride ever. He also survived a month in the Alaskan wilderness. Gary thinks that the only way he can do this stuff he does is because of the animals. Day after day, he beats the cold the hunger and goes out to get a meal. He hunts and cooks, catched fish alos for food and has strategy. He cleans the fish and leaves the other stuff by the river that he is not going to eat. He watches the bait and bears come to eat it. Lines it up and takes his shot strick he got the bear. That gives him a hide and lots of meat for a while. Overall this was a good survival/adventure book and very engaging. I gave this book a good 4 out of 5 stars because it was very energizing and a cliff hanger every time you are done with a chapter. This was a great book, the moral or theme was “you can't do it if you don’t believe it”.

[Margaret Menkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gary Paulsen is an amazing writer, and his prose is driven by his incredible experiences in life. I had no idea he competed in two Iditarods, lived in the Minnesota wilderness and climbed Bighorn Mountains. These adventures have given him endless stories about nature, and I was thrilled to read this short book on his encounters with wild animals.

This really is a compilation of short stories, but there is a fine thread of continuity in this compendium of observations about living things in nature. And, that is, man needs to understand and admire the ability to survive in the wild. Whether you are man, who thinks he is superior to animals, or wild animal that proves you are wrong - survival is basic to all of us.

As I mentioned, this is a short book and easy to read because the stories were so amusing! I laughed out loud through much of it! I recommend this book to anyone who likes nature, animals and adventure because you will get plenty of it!

[Brandi]

I listened to this audiobook via Audible!

I have always been interested in Gary Paulsen books - especially because my boys have liked them! This particular one is an autobiography of Paulsen himself. He has some interesting observations to share with the readers. I love his awareness of the world around him and the "human-like" explanations for the animals that appear in his life. From the dog he has conversations with and who understands almost 100% of what he says, the bees and birds who "manage" a rest stop, to the poodle who was his guard dog in the wilderness, to the sled dogs that he ran 2 Iditarod races with. He sees these animals as equal or capable of training US. I love his love for animals! I can see why he wrote such amazing "outdoor, adventure" novels. He has lived the life, experienced the great outdoors and definitely captures the love to share with his readers in Hatchet, etc.

[Ginette Rossi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audrey Grade 6
This Side of Wild, by Gary Paulsen was an amazing book filled with adventures and stories. This book is about an adventurer, Gary Paulsen, He as an intelligent relationship with animals, and feels that animals are smarter than we think they are, Gary has experience with nature, and whenever he sees other people being attacked or chased by other animals, he realized that everything that he has seen in person has never happened to him. I genuinely enjoyed the book, because it helped me understand animals a little bit more, and enhanced my knowledge on animals. I found that this book gave me a better point of view o adventure. I would personally recommend this book to people that are into adventure and animals.

[Suzanne Elyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not great. I don't mind Paulsen's writing generally but really struggled to get past the rambling train of thought to actually enjoy the stories he was telling. Maybe a nit-picky thing, but the guy makes use of way too many slashes. Ex "he walked down the path/trail" or "they gazed out over the pond/lake" -- doing this once in the book, maybe. But he did this MULTIPLE times. It irritated me. Not sure why. Is it a lake or a pond?! JUST DECIDE!

Also, the entirety of this book is not for little ears. It was in the juvenile non-fiction section but there's a bit of crass language and other things that I had to filter out while reading aloud to my 6 year old who just wanted to hear about the dog chasing a grizzly away.

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir
He left a rough home life to join the army, and was assigned to “Nuclear Warhead School” where he learned too much, but it was illegal to tell anyone anything, so he had to process the cosmic horror alone at 18 years old.

Love:
He found solace in animals and nature. He loves them, but more than that — he RESPECTS them.
Many love animals.
Few respect them.
Pet dogs, wild and domestic birds, working dogs, ants and bees, dog sledding in Alaska, horses in the desert, and more!

Dislike:
He does NOT like NOR respect cats, and says you can’t do anything with them. Okay, so you can see the intelligence and cunning of bugs, birds, and snakes but CATS are where you draw the line?

But I get it — he’s a dog person — no harm in that.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about this one at first, but that may have just been because of the audiobook style not quite being my jam.

The stories brought me in, though, and I appreciated the variety of animal interactions with an overarching theme of the complexity of animal relationships.
Staying true to my rating scheme, I have to give this five stars because I've already been recommending it to people in real life.

I do plan to read others of Paulsen's memoirs. Maybe I'll even give Hatchet another try; I know a lot of my feelings about it are tied to the experience of being forced to read it for a particular teacher.

[Nancy Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Gary Paulsen but I didn't get into this nonfiction book. In this book are stories from his life about what he has learned about and from animals. He has a lot of respect for animals and some of the stories were interesting, but maybe it was the way the narrator read the stories or that I missed all of the action and thrills that his fiction stories have which made me dislike this book. The best story was the first one that is pictured on the cover - the toy poodle that became his companion and protector, even of bears and good friends.

[Xander Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there was ever a book that got close to making me respect dogs, this would be it. Some of the stories (presumably true and not too embellished) are almost unbelievable in the degree to which the animals impress. Mostly this focuses on Paulsen's various dogs, but there are nice moments with several other creatures. Crows seem strangely vindictive and rabbits and horses are amusingly collaborative. But mostly his dogs are incredible and Paulsen's main take away is that they're training him much more than the other way around.