Gary Paulsen: 120 books

For a 16-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every day’s an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor; every day teaches him something more about friendship, or hunger, or profanity, or lust—always lust. He learns how a poker game, or hitching a ride, can turn...

Dunc and his best friend, Amos, are planning the best route to get the most candy on Halloween. But their plans change when Amos is slightly bitten by a werewolf. he begins scratching himself and chasing UPS trucks: He's become a werepuppy!

When Amos and his best friend Dunc have a close encounter with an extraterrestrial named “Girrk,” Dunc thinks they should report their findings to NASA. But Amos has other plans. Not only does he promise to help Girrk find a way back to his plant, he invites him to hide under his bed! Then weird...

In order to impress Melissa, the girl of his dreams, Amos Binder decides to perform on the trapeze at the visiting circus. Look out below! But before his best friend for life Dunc Culpepper can talk him out of his plan, the two stumble across a mystery behind the scenes at the circus. Now Amos is in double trouble. What’s really going on under the big top?

A critically acclaimed tearjerker from a master storyteller: On one side of the border is brutality and heartache; on the other side--a new life. 14yo Manny is an orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He competes with his bigger, meaner rivals for the coins American tourists throw off the bridge between Texas...

Dunc thinks Mr. Smith is just an old man who owns a junkyard and a mean junkyard dog. But Amos is convinced Mr. Smith is Lightning Man, a retired superhero, and the dog is his super sidekick. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith's sinister new neighbor, Professor Brainard, seems to be casting some kind of weird spell...

Deciphering a code they find in a library book, best friends for life Amos and Dunc stumble onto a burglary ring. The burglars' next target is the home of Melissa, the girl of Amos's dreams (who doesn't even know that he's alive). Amos longs to be a hero to Melissa, so nothing will stop him from solving this case--not even a mind-boggling collision with a jock, a chimpanzzee, and a toilet.

“A few hundred yards ahead there is a long wooden bridge that the donkeys will be afraid to cross. But do not worry. After you cross the bridge, the ruins will not be far away.” Cousins Kate, Sam, and Shala quickly see why the donkeys are so afraid to cross the bridge— it’s old and...

An Indian brave stands poised to shoot a white deer drinking from a pool of water in the moonlight. It is only a dream—a recurring nightmare that haunts 15-year-old Janet Carson—but it is a dream that will change her life forever. Janet, one of the few Anglo teens in the New Mexico art colony...

Twins Jeremy and Jason Parsons are helping their grandma run the Thunder Valley Ski Lodge while their grandfather recuperates from a broken hip. When Grandma Parsons joins their grandfather at the hospital, the boys are left to take care of the lodge on their own. Strange things begin happening once...

Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is heading west on the Oregon Trail with his family by wagon train. When he receives a rifle for his birthday, he is thrilled that he is being treated like an adult. But Francis lags behind to practice shooting and is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses,...

Tag pointed his flashlight into the hole and peered inside. It was impossible. The inside was hollow, like an underwater cave. Something shiny lay near the opening and reflected the beam from his light. He reached inside and pulled it out. A pewter spoon. If he could have made a sound,...

Meet Jake who lives in a neighborhood controlled by street violence and fear. He meets a sculptor across the street, and his eyes are opened to another world.  Or Jojo,who's closer to her three dogs than to her foster family. When Jojo tries to help another girl who needs a friend, the dogs know what to do.  Or Jamie, Erik, and Grandpa, who make up an unusual family.

In three stories—Escape from Fire Mountain; Hook ’Em, Snotty!; and Danger on Midnight River—the characters meet danger at every turn in the great outdoors and learn to face their fears head on. From a forest fire to a raging river to a scary bull named Diablo, the action doesn’t stop.