And it became a sanctuary for me, the librarian -- she watched me for a while. I was kind of this urchin, you know, a street urchin. Then she finally said, you want something ? I said, nah I'm OK. And she gave me a card and -- hard to talk about it. It was a card with my name on it. And, God, nobody had given me anything like that. Nobody gave me anything.

Gary Paulsen

Gary James Paulsen (May 17, 1939 – October 13, 2021) was an American writer of young adult literature, best known for coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books and has written 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.

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