Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paulsen, Gary. 1993. HARRIS AND ME: A SUMMER REMEMBERED. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Children's Books. ISBN 0152928774.


2. PLOT SUMMARY
Born to parents who prefer to indulge in liquor, the narrator is shipped off to a distant relative's farm for the summer. Rather reticent at first, he finds himself in several humorous situations that pull the him into a family he wished was his. Throughout those months, his nine-year-old partner in crime, Harris, and he get into scrapes with animals, buildings, machines, and anything else they can find.

3. IMPRESSIONS
Gary Paulsen is one of my favorite Children's/YA author. I knew this would be a good book...and I was right. In a way, it reminded me of The Painted House by John Grisham. This book is definitely a deviation from his normal thrillers or adventures, and is a simply a slow paced, easy to read, nice flowing story about two cousins and the summer they spend together stirring up trouble.

The innocence and child-like quality of the book is in direct contrast to many of the books that are out on the market now and that was a nice change. It was a book that could be read a chapter at a time with each having its own story. I laughed out loud a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed the subtle humor and Paulsen's use of irony and satire.

This is one of those books I will buy for myself and pull out every other year or so. Go read this. You'll like it.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS from http://www.amazon.com/Harris-Me-Gary-Paulsen/dp/015205880X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225455899&sr=1-1

* Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "A nostalgic journey through a boy's breakneck summer. Told by a narrator recalling his experiences the summer he was 11, the stories begin with his being dropped by a deputy at the farm home of a distant relative. "'We heard your folks was puke drunks, is that right?'" asks the beguiling and reckless nine-year-old Harris almost immediately. Of course they are, but that dismal fact of life is forgotten nearly at once as Harris leads the two of them off on one wild adventure after another. As one might suspect from Paulsen, there are no ordinary characters residing on this backwoods farm: there's Vivian, the ornery, kicking cow; 300 pound pigs who don't look kindly on wrestling matches with boys; Ernie, the attack-rooster; Louie, the hired hand with strange table manners and an artistic streak; Buzzer, his pet lynx; and Harris's older sister, Glennis, who is constantly whacking him for swearing. (At times the language does get a little salty.) The plot is a loosely constructed romp with each chapter an episode that's fast paced, highly descriptive, and funny. Using headings such as "In which war is declared and honor established," Paulsen raises readers' expectations and sets the tone for the action to follow. Some stories push beyond believability and edge into tall-tale territory, but it doesn't matter, for this is storytelling in the tradition of Twain and Harte, memorable and humorous and very telling of human nature."

* Starred review in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: "Paulsen choreographs an antic jig of down-on-the-farm frolics in this warm comedy set a few years after WW II. The 11-year-old narrator (who has spent a good portion of his life being shipped off to various relatives) has never seen anything like the Larson homestead, where he is sent to spend the summer; nor has he witnessed anyone like second cousin Harris, prankster extraordinaire. Initiation to country life includes a swift kick in the head by Vivian the cow, run-ins with an angry rooster and the Larson's spirited pet lynx, as well as assorted dares and humiliations conducted by nine-year-old Harris, who eventually becomes a cherished friend. Days are filled with a mixture of tough work and rough play and sometime during the course of his visit the city boy--parented by a couple of "puke drunks"--learns the real meaning of "home." On the Larson farm, readers will experience hearts as large as farmers' appetites, humor as broad as the country landscape and adventures as wild as boyhood imaginations. All this adds up to a hearty helping of old-fashioned, rip-roaring entertainment."

Amazon.com (2008). http://www.amazon.com/