James Pistner's Book Report on "Woodsong"

Name: James Pistner

Title of Book: Woodsong

Author: Gary Paulsen

What was the problem in the book, and how was it solved? Be specific.

In the book “Woodsong”, the problem that Gary faced was trying to finish the Iditarod.  

The Iditarod is a dog sled race that takes place in Alaska. He solved the problem by training

hard with his dogs, and learning about his surroundings outdoors and observing how animals

think and function.  At the beginning of the story he admits to knowing nothing about the

woods, or running dogs. He started out running dogs, because they were given to him to use

on the trapline to earn money rather than just walking.  So, Gary would take his dog team out

on runs, and pay close attention to the different personalities of his dogs, and carefully watch

other animals in his environment. By doing these things it helped him finish the race.

What was the author's purpose or purposes in writing the book? Explain how you know.

The author’s purpose in writing this book was to entertain his readers and tell his story

about his life and Iditarod experience.  I know this because he is telling his story about what

happened during training and the race. He explains in detail about how he first started

running dogs on the trapline and how he develops the mindset of running his dog team.

 He finishes by telling about his Iditarod experience.

What did the title have to do with the book?

I believe the title “Woodsong” was used for this book because in the story the author talks

a lot about being in the woods, and how he learns about the woods and the animals around him.

It is almost like the woods talk or “sing” to him. That is why I think the book was titled

“Woodsong”.

Tell in your own words how the setting of the story made it more interesting. Be specific.

The setting of the story made it more interesting because the author describes his s

urroundings in very specific detail throughout the whole story.  By doing this it made it

easy to picture in your mind what his environment looked like. The setting was mainly in

Minnesota and the Alaskan wilderness.  Gary would talk about the specific temperatures,

landforms, weather, and the feelings of him and his dogs. He would describe each place

his dog team ran through in full detail.  His descriptions of the setting made the story

very interesting and exciting to read!

If one of the characters visited our classroom, what question would you ask them? (Make sure

the question relates to the plot/problem/actions of the story.) *Give the name of the character

with the question!!*

Character: Gary

Question: In the story you talk about the challenges you faced while running your dogs, one of

those challenges you mentioned was hallucinations.  How did you deal with the hallucinations

and still be able to continue to stay on your sled and run your dogs while going through this?

Pretend you are a librarian recommending the book to someone. Write a paragraph telling what

you would say.

I would recommend the book “Woodsong” by Gary Paulsen to people who like adventure

and reading about challenges faced by others.  Also, if you are interested in dog sled racing and

the Iditarod, it is a very good book to read. The story talks about how Gary started out not

knowing anything about the outdoors or running dogs, and how through his life he faced

many challenges.  Through his experiences and training for the Iditarod he learned a lot from

his dogs and how to run them. He finally had the chance to participate in the Iditarod, and

even though it was very hard he did not want it to end! I would definitely recommend reading t

his book!

If they made a movie of this book, which scene would be most important to include. Explain the scene with details and why it's important.

If they made a movie of this book an important scene to include would be the difficulties

he faced when training for the race.  In particular the scene where he was running his sled down

a hill and he lost control, and fell off of the sled. Gary ended up falling over a frozen waterfall

and ripped his knee cap off.  He thought his dogs would just keep running, but they didn’t. The

leader, Cookie, stopped and turned the team around and lead the dogs down around the waterfall

to the bottom where Gary was laying.  Cookie went down to him to see if he was going to be alright.

This was an important scene because it showed the dogs loyalty to him and the relationship Gary

had with his dogs.