Starred review from December 21, 2009
Set during the American Revolution, Paulsen's (Hatchet
) slim novel candidly and credibly exposes the underbelly of that war. Sam is a skilled hunter with an instinctive knowledge of the western Pennsylvania forest—a “woods runner.” When word of fighting between the British and the colonists reaches his family, the 13-year-old realizes that his life will change (“The loud outside world his parents had escaped by moving to the frontier had found them”). It is a brutal change: Sam returns from a hunting expedition to find houses in their settlement burned to the ground and the scalped bodies of neighbors. His harrowing quest to locate and rescue his parents—taken prisoner by the culprits, British soldiers aided by Iroquois—involves a nearly fatal run-in with a tomahawk-wielding native; a narrow escape from marauding Hessian mercenaries; and a fortuitous encounter with a Scottish tinker who's a spy for the patriots. Paulsen fortifies this illuminating and gripping story with interspersed historical sections that offer details about frontier life and the war (such as technology, alliances, and other period information), helping place Sam's struggles in context. Ages 12–up.

March 1, 2010
Gr 6-9-Samuel, 13, lives in the British colony of Pennsylvania. He spends his days exploring and hunting in the woods far from civilization. His father wants to live a quiet life learning to use tools and build a house, while his mother tries to get the garden to grow. There are rumors that American patriots have begun a bloody war against the English but news takes weeks to arrive and the fighting seems far away from the peaceful frontier. Suddenly, the war comes to Samuel. While he is hunting, British soldiers and Iroquois attack, taking Samuel's parents prisoner and killing many in the settlement. He follows their trail determined to rescue them. Paulsen takes readers inside the reality of this war, revealing the horrific conditions of the civilians who were taken prisoner. Between each chapter Paulsen includes information on various aspects of the war such as weapons, civilian deaths, orphans, and communication. Through Samuel's story, readers discover the brutality and cost of war. In the afterword, the author informs readers that he is not attempting to write the history of the Revolutionary War but instead to clarify some aspects of it. His story will leave readers with a new sense of admiration for those who lost their lives in the creation of the nation. This fast-paced novel will appeal to Paulsen fans and is a good choice for reluctant readers."Denise Moore, O'Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
Grades 6-9 Steering his narrative through an unsentimentalized and deglorified depiction of the American Revolution, Paulsens latest work of historical fiction provides a stark glimpse of just how awful the war really was for those who suffered through it. Though his parents are city folk trying to hack out a life on the frontier in Pennsylvania, 13-year-old Samuel is entirely at home in the woodland wilderness that surrounds their little settlement. Soon after word arrives of the uprising in Concord and Lexington, Samuel returns home from a jaunt in the forest to find his home burned down, the neighbors slaughtered, and his parents missing. Samuel tracks his captured parents through the countryside to British-held New York, encountering scalping bands of Iroquois, pillaging squads of mercenary Hessians, and a few hardy, helpful rebels along the way. Paulsen alternates chapters of Samuels story with historical notes that illuminate the sobering realities of the Revolution and add some context not found in most history books. Paulsens rewarding and fast-paced novel offers an honest assessment of heroism writ both small and large.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2010
Samuel, thirteen, finds the survival skills he's learned in the deep forest put to new use when the Revolution reaches his family's western Pennsylvania homestead. The setting is far removed from those more frequently used for historical fiction about 1776, and Paulsen gets to deploy his talent for wilderness adventure. The narrative is interspersed with brief nonfiction sections that straightforwardly inform the story.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 1, 2010
Samuel, thirteen, finds the tracking, hunting, and survival skills he's learned in the deep forest put to new use when the events of the once-distant Revolution reach his family's western Pennsylvania homestead. By using a setting far removed from those more frequently used for historical fiction about 1776 (Boston, Philadelphia, etc.), Paulsen gets to deploy his considerable talent for wilderness adventure, here yoked -- via the British-ordered massacre of Samuel's neighbors and capture of his parents -- to the larger events of the era. The narrative is interspersed with brief nonfiction sections ("Weapons," "The Hessians," etc.) that inform the narrative in a straightforward way, including details that are helpful and interesting, and accenting rather than slowing the momentum. Hatchet (rev. 3/88) fans will appreciate the way Samuel's woodcraft allows him to find food and elude capture while tracking his parents even into the city of New York, and they will relate to the open and genuinely boyish emotion he displays for them and a little girl he rescues en route to the satisfying conclusion.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)