Fifteen–year–old Jude believes that his mother abandoned him at birth. When his heroin–dealer father is murdered, the authorities discover that he is the son of DA and mayoral candidate Anna Grady, and that he was kidnapped by his father at three weeks old. His mother welcomes him into her comfortable life and sends him to an exclusive prep school. When a schoolmate dies of an overdose, Jude, though innocent, is implicated. His mother's boyfriend, Harry, the deputy police commissioner, convinces him to take part in an elaborate charade to help Anna get elected on an anti–drug platform. Harry promises that once she's elected he will come forward with evidence that Jude is innocent. Instead, Jude is tried as an adult, sent to the state penitentiary for five years, and finds that Harry never meant to get him out at all. The plot is tight, deliberately paced, and full of delicious twists. Unlike many suspense novels, the characters are as thoroughly developed as the story. Jude, especially, is lovingly written—self–conscious and highly moral, with an angry toughness that balances him into believability. The dialogue, especially between Harry and Jude, is fluid, charged, and revelatory instead of expository...the story is quick and action packed enough to engage reluctant readers, especially older boys.

Brians hunt

Brian now sixteen years old, is canoeing through the Canadian wilderness. He realizes that the woods are now his home and he will never be happy in modern society, with its noise, pollution, and fake people. He now spends his time in the wild, hunting, fishing, and home schooling himself. While Brian does not miss human contact, he finds his thoughts frequently turning to Kay-gwa-daush (also known as Susan), the teenage daughter of the Cree family who rescued him at the end of Brian's Winter. Though he has only seen her photograph, her family has described her as an adventurous, self-reliant young woman, and Brian wonders if she might be a kindred spirit.
While canoeing, Brian finds a seriously wounded malamute dog, which he nurses back to health. The dog is clearly domesticated, and Brian begins to worry that whatever maimed the dog may have done the same to her owners. He remembers his Cree friends and decides to go check on them.
When Brian reaches their cabin, he finds that it was a bear that had killed the parents and apparently chased Susan into hiding. Brian returns her to her home, radios for help, and buries the family. The authorities arrive to take Susan to relatives in Winnipeg. Brian, along with the dog, stays behind in order to hunt down and kill the bear, knowing very well that the hunt could cost him his life.
Brian uses his skills he had learned in past books like Hatchet and Brian's Winter, searches for the bear that felled his friends. But soon, the hunter becomes the hunted. Brian finds bear tracks on an island and begins to follow them. He later realizes that he was walking in a circle. The bear is actually hunting Brian. The next day, instead of moving on, he waits for the bear, and after a hard fought battle with the bear, Brian is triumphant.

The rifle

With his usual economy of words, Gary Paulsen spins a trenchant historical yarn around one gun, a flintlock that dates back to the Revolutionary War. This one-in-a-million "sweet" shooting rifle threads its way across 200 years. Tucked away in an attic, it resurfaces in contemporary times with devastating impact.
Gunsmith Cornish McManus lovingly crafts a once-in-a lifetime flintlock muzzle-loader, but is sadly forced to part with it when Clare, the love of his life, wants to begin a family. John Byam, a mountain man, must have the rifle. "Sweet," Byam says, nodding. "Like honey from a tree after a long, dead winter. I'll buy it." With his deal, Byam gets swept up in the Revolutionary War, where death results from use of the rifle.
After the Revolution, the rifle falls into the hands of Sarah, who tucks it away between the timbers in her attic, where it stays until 1993. The rifle, discovered by two children, exchanges hands many times until its fatal act on Christmas Eve, when the spark of a Christmas candle uncannily ignites, setting off the charge that kills.

Brians winter

Thirteen-year old Brian Robeson learns to survive in the Canadian wilderness, armed only with his hatchet and knife. As time goes on Brian get smarter and smarter on survival skills, such as learning on how to make weapons and what kind of food to live on. As time keeps going, winter gets closer and closer. The only problem is that Brian isn?t prepared that well, because he is not aware of what the winter will be like. Will Brian survive the wilderness by himself and will he survive the winter? Brian?s Winter is one of those books that you can never put down once you start reading. The further you get in the book the more intense it gets. This book tells about a boy that gets stranded in the wilderness. Alone in the wilderness Brian is forced to survive. As the days get shorter winter comes. It is only up to Brian to survive. My opinion on this book is that it is a great book and I grade this book 10.0 because it?s a very good adventure book. This book is also very intense. For example, when Brian hunts for food, he comes to many encounters with deadly animals such as wolves or bears. A bear does attack him but does he live or die? For another example, when Brian?s food supply goes low and Brian?s clothing starts to rip, does that stop Brian? If you?re into intense adventure books that you will love this book. I highly recommend that you read this book. You will enjoy this book very much if you read it.

hatchet

Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old from New York City, boards a plan headed from Hampton, New York to the Canadian north woods to visit his father. His parents' recent divorce weighs heavily on him, as does "The Secret" that his mother is having an affair. The pilot gives him a very brief flying lesson in which Brian has control of the plane for a few minutes. The pilot seems to be experiencing increasing pain in his shoulder, arm, and stomach. At first Brian does not think it is very serious, but as the pilot begins jerking in his seat it becomes clear that he is having a heart attack. The attack stops and the pilot is dead; Brian is forced to take over the controls. After a harrowing descent, the plane crashes into a lake in the Canadian woods, where Brian is stranded.

Brian has little to eat and is injured from the crash, but believes he will soon be rescued. He finds some strange berries to eat, which make him extremely sick. He then finds a raspberry patch, where he spots a bear. Brian constructs a shelter and in the middle of the night he hears a noise. A porcupine has entered his shelter and Brian throws the hatchet in its direction. It shoots its quills into Brian's leg, causing him severe pain. Brian attempts to build a fire with no matches and eventually succeeds when he learns how to strike his hatchet against a stone to ignite sparks. He finds turtle eggs and eagerly eats them. One day a plane flies overhead but does not see him and continues on its way, leaving Brian devastated and hopeless. He attempts to commit suicide by cutting himself with his hatchet, but survives the attempt and emerges from the experience determined to embrace life and to take an active role in his own fate.
Brian soon catches his first fish and enjoys a big feast. That night, however, a skunk enters the shelter and when Brian yells at the skunk, it sprays him, temporarily blinding him and covering him with a horrible stench. Brian perfects his tools and catches a foolbird, his first meat. While he is cleaning the bird in the water, a moose attacks Brian, injuring his ribs and his shoulder. Another unfortunate incident soon follows when a tornado sweeps over the woods and destroys Brian's shelter.
The day after the tornado, Brian discovers that the chaotic storm has riled up the water in the lake, and the tail of the plane had emerged from the lake, reminding Brian of the dead pilot and compelling him to say a few words for him. Lying in bed one night, it occurs to Brian that he could seek out the survival pack in the body of the plane, and he determines to build a raft to do so. After many incidents of trial-and-error, Brian retrieves the survival pack from the plane. At one point he drops the hatchet to the lake's bottom, but retrieves it with a long dive. On his way back up to the surface, Brian sees the dead pilot's head underwater, partially eaten by fish. Brian gets sick in the water but manages to make it back to his shelter to get some sleep.
The next morning Brian opens the survival pack, which contains countless useful items, some of which Brian rejects in favor of the self-sufficient methods he has developed during his time in the woods. However, there is freeze-dried food that he decides to cook immediately. He also finds something labeled "Emergency Transmitter." He fiddles with it but it appears not to function. As Brian is preparing his much-anticipated meal, a plane lands on the lake to rescue a dumbfounded Brian sitting down to eat his freeze-dried meal.