Woods Runner - Gary Paulsen

Written by Gary Paulsen
Read by Danny Campbell
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Awards: Best Fiction for Young Adults
Release date: January 12, 2010
Duration: 03:42:08

Samuel, 13, spends his days in the forest, hunting for food for his family. He has grown up on the frontier of a British colony, America. Far from any town, or news of the war against the King that American patriots have begun near Boston.

But the war comes to them. British soldiers and Iroquois attack. Samuel’s parents are taken away, prisoners. Samuel follows, hiding, moving silently, determined to find a way to rescue them. Each day he confronts the enemy, and the tragedy and horror of this war. But he also discovers allies, men and women working secretly for the patriot cause. And he learns that he must go deep into enemy territory to find his parents: all the way to the British headquarters, New York City.

With a smoky voice redolent of musket fire, Danny Campbell recounts the fictional story of Samuel, a teen caught in the War for Independence. When his parents are brutally kidnapped by the British and their allies, the Iroquois, Sam must rescue them without a thought for his own safety. With his vast knowledge of the woods and the help of many people, each delineated by Campbell with unique vocalizations and accents, Sam succeeds–but at a harrowing cost. Campbell skillfully employs pace and projection to build suspense and convey Paulsen’s page-turning action. Campbell uses a deeper, flatter tone to differentiate brief paragraphs of background information appended to each chapter. An afterword adds more facts to this gripping story of the Revolutionary War. M.M.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine