New York Times Best Children's Books of the Year
Wall Street Journal Best Children's Books of the Year
Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Books of the Year
Publishers Weekly Best Middle Grade Books of the Year
“Paulsen . . . was not only a master storyteller, but also a master world-builder . . . Wondrous . . . A grand and worthy journey.” —Neal Shusterman, The New York Times Book Review
“A voyage both singular and universal, marked by sharply felt risks and rewards and deep waters beneath.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Spare, survival-oriented prose keeps the reader immersed in scenes difficult and wondrous, offering a glimpse of the sheer awesomeness of nature, showcasing the beauty of the sea and its inhabitants, and regaling readers with a timeless and irresistible adventure that has resilience at its heart.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Call this posthumously published novel The Young Man and the Sea . . . [A] splendid story . . . Beautifully written, it’s classic Paulsen at his best.” —Booklist, starred review
“[A] mesmerizing modern-day epic . . . The tale of man versus nature is as old as time, but Paulsen, who died in 2021, goes beyond the genre by exploring the complex perspectives of animals . . . Narrative devices like kennings and repetitious phrasing hark back to epic sagas such as Beowulf and the Poetic Eddas: tides become moon-currents, silence becomes non-sound and memories become thought-pictures. But possibly the most compelling aspect of the work is the lesson Leif learns along his journey: ‘Don't go to a place. Go to be. Just to be.’” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“What a gem . . . This accessible, captivating adventure story is destined to become another Paulsen classic . . . An essential purchase for libraries serving middle grade and YA readers.” —School Library Journal, starred review
★ 2021-10-13
A solitary young traveler paddles through an archipelago of natural, often dangerous, wonders, learning as he goes.
Though the metaphorical layer lies barely beneath the surface in this short novel, Paulsen’s spare prose and legendary knowledge of the challenges and techniques of wilderness survival make the journey through a landscape that evokes historical Scandinavia compelling reading. Sole survivor—and that just barely—of the gruesomely depicted cholera that sweeps through his camp, 12-year-old Leif comes away with a dugout canoe, a few basic outdoor skills, and the command from a dying, respected elder to head north. Subsisting largely on blackberries and salmon, he travels a winding route through fjords and a seemingly endless string of islets and inlets where he finds both danger and delight in searching for food and shelter, literally coming face to face with bears and whales, struggling to survive a deadly tidal whirlpool, and coming to understand the importance of seeing and learning from the ways and rhythms of “this place and all places that will come to me.” Calling on memories, Paulsen writes in an autobiographical afterword of his Norwegian immigrant grandmother’s tales. References to Odin and whalers give the setting a timelessly folkloric feeling. Final art not seen.
A voyage both singular and universal, marked by sharply felt risks and rewards and deep waters beneath. (Historical adventure. 9-13)
