Name: Brian's Return
ISBN: 9780307929600

Gary Paulsen

After having survived alone in the wilderness, Brian finds that he can no longer live in the city but must return to the place where he really belongs.

Brian's Return

Meagan Fischer 

I'm being generous with my stars. Probably very good for a kid. As an adult I now have some questions about the themes Paulsen explores in his books and the dichotomies he reinforces between nature/civilization. His character is also incredibly lucky and skilled to an unrealistic point, where he can just read about complicated techniques (like how to properly dry arrows so they aren't warped) in a book and then do them. The story sort of creates this moral hierarchy where people who are more connected to nature and removed from civilization are seen as more pure...even though you need a civilization to make things like a fiberglass canoe that Brian uses. Survivalism is cool but I no longer want to perpetuate the idea that being alone and disconnected from people makes someone transcendental or something.