Woods Runner
Woods Runner is a 2010 young adult novel by Gary Paulsen that takes place during the year 1776. It is about a 13-year-old boy named Samuel living during the Revolutionary War whose house is burnt down by British soldiers while he is out hunting. When Samuel investigates the scene of devastation, he finds the dead bodies of his neighbors, but none of the bodies were his parents. His parents were not killed because one of the British officers saw that Samuel's father played chess, and the officer wanted to play chess with him. Samuel starts a journey to find his parents by tracking them all the way to New York. He meets a man named Old Bob that the Indians didn't kill. Old Bob tells him that the British came by there and destroyed his home but left him because they believed that he was crazy. So, Samuel continues his journey, now with a renewed hope that he will find them, but he gets hit in the head with a tomahawk thrown by an Indian who was guarding his parents and the other prisoners. But with the help of rebels his wound healed. He visits a calm farm and meets a young girl named Annie, who introduces him to her parents. They have dinner together and are very nice to Samuel. Samuel starts to leave, but goes back because he sees Hessians heading in the direction of the farm. The Hessians shoot and kill Annie's parents, but Annie is too quick for them and runs away. Samuel goes after her and they venture together to continue the search for Samuel's parents. Samuel finds the help of a man named Abner, and his friend Matthew, who are spies and work together and agree to help him. Samuel and Abner sneak into New York and escape with Samuel's parents, but his father is weak. Samuel's family then adopts Annie as their own daughter. The family continues to escape after Abner tells them that he has to leave them. They run into a group of British soldiers and Samuel kills one officer and was almost killed by the rest, but some rebel gunfire saved him and his family. The rebels take Samuel and his family back to Philadelphia for safety. Samuel then decided to go to war but returned to where his original home was before he left. He joined the continental army and stayed there for three years until one of his friends, John Cooper, who saved him from the tomahawk injury, died.
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| Author | Gary Paulsen |
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| Cover artist | Richard Tuschman |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Wendy Lamb Books[1] |
Publication date | 2010 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 176 pp |
| ISBN | 0385738846 |