Alida

Series · 3 books · 1991-2004

By Gary Paulsen

Books in series

The Cookcamp

1991

Told through the eyes of a 5-year-old boy, this is a story of adventure and discovery in a cookcamp located in the Canadian woods during World War II. When?: World War II Where?: A cookcamp in the Canadian woods Why?: He's not really sure. One summer, a 5-year-old boy goes to live with his grandmother in a cookcamp. The camp is home to 9 men who are building a road through the woods. The boy misses his mother, but at the same time the camp becomes home—a special home where he learns to spit and rides the tractor. It's a wonderful summer, but then he lets slip to his grandmother about "Uncle Casey" and she writes seven letters to his mother. Seven letters that she mails "good and hard." A short while later, the boy returns home.

Alida's Song

1999

A remarkable novel about one of the most important, and loving, relationships in Gary Paulsen's life. The wonderful grandmother seen through the eyes of a young boy in The Cookcamp reaches out to him at 14, offering him a haven from his harsh and painful family life. She arranges a summer job for him on the farm where she is a cook for Gunnar and Olaf, elderly brothers. Farm life offers the camaraderie and routine of hard work, good food, peaceful evenings spent making music together, even learning to dance. Life with Alicia gives the boy strength and faith in himself, drawing him away from the edge and into the center of life.

The Quilt

2004

1944. Wartime. A six-year-old boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother Alida in a small town near the Canadian border. With the men all gone off to fight, the women are left to run the farms. There’s plenty for the boy to do—trying to help with the chores, getting to know the dog, and the horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. But when his cousin Kristina goes into labor, he can’t do a thing. Instead, the house fills with women come to help and to wait, and to work on a quilt together. This is no common, everyday quilt, but one that contains all the stories of the boy’s family. The quilt tells the truth, past and of happiness, courage, and pain; of the greatest joy, and the greatest loss. And as they wait, the women share these memorable stories with the boy.

Author

Gary Paulsen

Author · 131 books

Although he was never a dedicated student, Paulsen developed a passion for reading at an early age. After a librarian gave him a book to read—along with his own library card—he was hooked. He began spending hours alone in the basement of his apartment building, reading one book after another. Running away from home at the age of 14 and traveling with a carnival, Paulsen acquired a taste for adventure. A youthful summer of rigorous chores on a farm; jobs as an engineer, construction worker, ranch hand, truck driver, and sailor; and two rounds of the 1,180-mile Alaskan dog sled race, the Iditarod; have provided ample material from which he creates his stories. Paulsen and his wife, Ruth Wright Paulsen, an artist who has illustrated several of his books, divide their time between a home in New Mexico and a boat in the Pacific.