In the book, GUTS: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books, Paulsen shares his own adventures in the wilderness and how he incorporated them into the Brian novels. He committed himself to doing things he had never done before to make sure that the main character throughout the Brian series could do them. Paulsen also educate his readers about surviving in the wilderness. For example, when Brian starts a fire using sparks from a hatchet against a rock or when he ate raw turtle eggs, Paulsen did the same exact thing. Furthermore, we learn about how the Brian books came about and how the ideas come to mind for each story line. Additionally, I love how Paulsen holds nothing back from the reader. He includes every detail about all of his experiences in the wilderness. Paulsen explains through Guts, “if one wishes to survive, you must be creative and use your environment to your advantage.” I think that Paulsen did a good job describing his experiences, like when he was starving in the forest and he ate the guts of animals. Paulsen said that he would “eat anything that would make a normal person vomit just to survive.” He painted a picture in my head of how desperate he was for food. Guts is filled with some wonderful stories about Gary Paulsen’s life. It is a good read and I would recommend it to my friends. …show more content…
Paulsen explains that he wanted to educate his young readers about the realities of the wilderness and what it would take for them to survive if they needed to. Furthermore, Paulsen writes that having the right mindset and never letting your circumstances get the best of you are necessary to survive. Always have hope, without it, your chance of survival is