If you want to read 224 pages of someone telling you how tough they are and how bad they've had it in life, with very little about motorcycling, then this books for you!This book is written on about a 4th grade level with dirty words thrown in as if to show off that he's a "man". Save your hard earned money!!

I love many of Gary Paulsen's books. I've heard Gary discuss his books at a bookstore appearance; Gary appears to be a very genuine, intelligent, and caring man and author.
BUT, this book seems to have been cobbled together to meet a contractual obligation. Not only is the book just 179 pages, but the print line spacing is expanded to "fluff" the text. Typical books have 28 to 32 lines of text per page; this book has 24. The title, on second thought, tries to play the life of Gary Paulsen in terms of a motorcycle ride: "zero to sixty" refers to Gary's current age, and "the journey of a lifetime" refers to Gary's life, not the motorcycle journey.
There's some glorification of how a Harley, different from any other motorcycle, "brought me out of myself, out ahead of myself, into myself, into the core of what I was, what I needed to live," but no thought about WHY the Harley brand does this for Gary -- or why other motorcyclists feel that other brands fit THEIR soul. (See _The Perfect Vehicle: What It is about Motorcycles_ for Melissa Holbrook Pierson's take on her relationship with her Moto Guzzi.)
_Zero to Sixty_ contains some interesting insights into Gary Paulsen's life, and has some beautifully written passages: but that's what you might expect in a long magazine interview.
The profanity is inappropriate and very stilted. Further, the profanity suddenly and almost totally stops halfway through the book at the start of chapter five -- almost as if an editor said, "Gary, you've got to throw some profanity into the first half of the book. After all, it is a 'Harley book.'" Who knows -- maybe the same editor later said, "hey, let's put out the same book under a different title and not tell anyone."
Borrow this book if you must read it -- it's a very quick read.
As the Librarian in Michigan pointed out, you can probably find this book in the library under its original title _Pilgrimage on a Steel Ride: A Memoir About Men and Motorcycles_.
But DON'T give up on Gary Paulsen if this is your first book of his -- he's an excellent writer -- just not here -- and perhaps not in his other directly autobiographical books.

This book is a reprint of Pilgrimage On a Steel Ride written in 1997. Do not be fooled by the new name, cover and ISBN number as I was. Don't get me wrong, I admire Mr Paulsen's work and have purchased in the past (and will continue to do so in the future) every book he has written for my public library partons. B-U-T I feel the publisher is remiss in not stating up front that this book is a renamed reprint of an earlier book. True, on the back cover near the bottom in very tiny writing you will find the information but only after you have purchased the book over the internet will you see this disclaimer. Perhaps the publisher was thinking more of traditional book store sales where you can actually see the back of the book and read a few lines, but if so they were very shortsighted.

When I picked up the book to read for the first time, I was pleased with the sequence of things, but as I read further I became more and more frustrated with the book. I like Gary Soto's work and in general loved the book, but it would have been better kept in essay format rather than clumped up in a novel that had no order other than Gary's age.

Living Up the Street is one of the many books published by Gary Soto. Many of the books that he writes are about some childhood past experiences. It tells about his ups and downs that he went through as a child. Not all of the situations are from his childhood, but many are. Knowing the beginning of the book, a few events, and what I thought of the book will give you a better understanding of the book and how interesting it is. The book begins by introducing three children that will be the main characters throughout the book. These children are Rick 6, Chango 5, who is also the narrator in the book, and Debra 4. Basically the beginning the book tells about how the family struggles in life and how their mom, when angry, takes a belt to the children when they did inappropriate things. The first event that takes place is when their mom has to leave to go somewhere and someone else was supposed to watch the three children. The children thinking they could manage on their own got to stay home by themselves. The children liked to play with fire so they did make a fire and ended up burning some items in the house and they also had a tomato fight which made the house a complete mess. When their mom came home she was very angered by what they did. Another event that took place at the beginning deals with their father. Their father was a good man and a hard working one too. Their father was going to start to do some work on the house so he and his family could have better living conditions. One day their father got a head injury at work and he had to be taken to the hospital. There he stayed and two days later he ended up dying from the head injury. The whole family was sad to see him die. One thing that he was doing before he died was putting up a fence at home. The family did was got together and put the fence up themselves. They knew the father would have loved this. Those are just a few events that happen in this book. I do not want to tell the rest because then you would not have to read the book to see what happens. Basically the idea of the book to me is that the family starts out struggling, going through hard times and later they get everything together and become a good family who is doing very well compared to what they had been doing before. This book should be read by many people that like to know about how families are, what they do in bad situations, and how they make it through the bad times. Now that you know the beginning of the book, a few events that took place, and what I thought of the book you might just want to go read the book. It is one that is definitely should be read. You will enjoy it. It is not a very difficult book to read. There are not very many pages

I purchased this book about two weeks ago and it's probably the only book that I've enjoyed reading. While most stories are either too grim of too happy, this book offers both. This book tells about Gary Soto's ups and downs throughout his childhood, adolescence and even adult life. A book that anyone can relate to in one way or another, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something that is realistic yet a joy to read.

At first the book thoroughly describes the grueling life of living on a farm. Every day in the winter Eldon's Uncle David tells a story. Once he told a story about a woodcutter that could have two axes above his head one in each hand and swing the axes so they hit head on. Eldon's father informed everyone that the woodcutter in the story was Davic himself. Wayne had been listening to the stories every winter since he can remember and thought all the stories to be true, but not this one and he let Uncle Davud know it. The the next night he and Eldon were playing in the hay loft and saw their uncle spit a piece of wood in the fashion the woodcutter did in the story and then they knew it was true and didn't tell thier uncle what they saw.

Growing up in the 30's was a tough time for many people. It's never easy dealing with acres of crops, milking cows every day, or slipping and sliding in manure, but growing up on a farm had its good points, such as hearing an old family member tell a memorable story every night. Such is the case of the narrator, a boy who recalls what it was like every season of the year, especially that of the winter, when the whole family would gather in the 'winter room' to sit and knit, eat dinner, tell stories, or listen to stories while staring at the glowing fire burning in the distance.

As with all of his books, Gary Paulsen writes in a way as to paint pictures in your mind so that you can actually 'see' what is being said as you read it. At the same time, the story remains interesting from start to finish, without having a single part that's boring in any way, shape or form, but the best parts of the book in my opinion are the short stories that Uncle David tells.

Included is a sort of foreword by Gary Paulsen before the actual book begins. Then he tells what the boy thinks about and what is typically done in each season of the year on the 1930's farm, and finally, Uncle David tells a few fascinating stories, with one certain TRUE story being told each and every night.

The Winter Room is a fairly short book (103 pages), but like I said, it's interesting and sort of compelling from start to finish. It's a great book, but it is not one of Gary Paulsen's ABSOLUTE best books, in my opinion. After reading many of his other books such as The Island, Hatchet, The River, and Dogsong, I wasn't disappointed with The Winter Room, but it doesn't stand out as being one of his very best, even though it is a Newbery Honor Book.

If you're like me and you're a big Gary Paulsen fan, I definitely recommend adding The Winter Room to your collection. I also recommend it to anybody who wants to read a short and well-written book, but just keep in mind that the author has many other books that are even better than The Winter Room.

Do you like to go on adventures? If you do you should read this book its about two boys named Eldon and Wayne and their uncle David. Their Uncle David mostly tells stories about superheroes but today was different, instead he told them a story about a woodcutter. The boys were eagerly excited, but then something terrible happens! Oh! What could it be? The author of this book is Gary Paulsen he writes excellent children's books some of his books are, Hatchet, The Voyage of the Frog, and One- Eyed Cat and plenty more. Gary Paulsen books are amazing, you should really read some of his books.

A good book but alittle out of my league, I'm more into suspence thrillers like "JAWS". I accually was reading this for a school project. This book has Gary Paulsen written all over it, although it was alittle differant from some of his other books (that I ended up reading) you can still reconize hie style. Reading this type of book for pretty much the first time, I enjoyed it. I did read "Hatchet" and "Brian's Winter" but I did'nt like them as much. The sequal to this book does sound interesting. I really liked the way
that Paulsen reffured to the main charactor as "The Boy" rather than some everyday name. With the content in this book I would not recomend it for readers under 13 years of age.

The Beet Fields Memories of a Sixteenth Summer is a book about the author's, Gary Paulsen, experiences. After "The Boy," as he is called, runs from his drunk parents he ends up working the beet fields with the Mexicans. As he juggles farm jobs, runs from the cops, and seeks love, he has many adventures. This book never has a dull moment and always keeps the reader on his or her toes. Each job ends quickly with split second decisions to take another. You never know if he will fall off a barn or fall in love with the farmer's daughter he has seen only once. The best part of all was the fast pace which never bores the reader.

Gary Paulsen's latest installment in his collection of memoirs is a glimpse into his sixteenth summer, when he left his drunken parents to pursue life on his own. He takes work as a laborer in the beet fields, where he befriends Mexican workers and learns to hunt pigeons with his bare hands, and later does farm work, joins the crew of a traveling carnival, and learns about lust and love from an older, much more experienced woman.

While this isn't a book for younger readers, it will most definitely find an audience with teenagers who are familiar with Paulsen's writing and yearn to know more about his hardships and adventures when he was their age. Readers who enjoyed Hatchet and its sequels will find that the details of Brian's survival in the wilderness find an equally appealing match in the stories of Paulsen's own survival on the road in The Beet Fields.

This book was a wonderful book about a boy named Wil Neuton who lives in modern times, and anybody who has had to move to a different town due to the parent's job, can relate to him; I can. He moves to the country from the city, which is a huge change for him. He meets a girl named Susan, a boy named Ray Bunner what a bully, a strange man named Emil Acht, and finds an Island in the middle of Sucker Lake. Wil goes out to the Island more and more, and keeps learning things about nature, his new home, the lake, the island, his family, and himself. Soon he starts camping and refuses to leave until he is finished. Ray Bunner comes and Wil beat him up in a fight. Susan visits almost every day, and she brings him food, pencils, and paint. He writes and paints of many things, and finds the island as a paradise. News spreads of him, a reporter for a newspaper comes, and soon even some TV news reporters come. His parents don't understand and Wil thinks that they never will, and they send a shrink to help him and he doesn't understand any more than his parents do. Then his parents see the newspaper, and all of the things he wrote and painted, and the his he brings his father up to the island, and they talk for a while, and the book slowly ends. I would definently recomend this book to any body that likes Gary Paulson's books and is in tune with nature. It will make you laugh, it won't let you set it down, and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did.

The Island, is mainly about 15 yr. old Wil's observations on the island. Wil's family, consisting of him and his parents move from Wisconsin to Minnesota because of his father's job. Wil goes out biking 1 morning which is when he first discovers the island, and 1 of his only friends in Munnesota, Susan. The book follows with Wil continuly going to the island and seeing Susan. This book is kind of like a story in a story because even thoug it was written by Gary Paulsen, there are little paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter that are supposedly written by Wil, also as he starts spending more time on the island, he writes storys about things that he sees, and that can get kind of boring. All in all this book has many insights on nature, but lacks the excitment that books like Hatchet, and The River have.

The setting is in the summertime. The protagonist, Wil Newton who is 15 years old has just moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin. Wil doesn't like the moved but to make matters worse his parents aren't getting along. Every morning Wil leaves home and goes to an island. On this island he watches the loons,and the fish. He also writes and paints. But Wil has a problem--Ray Bunner, the bully. Wil decides he wants to live indefinately on the island. Wils parents become concerned because they begin to think he is crazy. During his stay on the island Wil discovers two things: nature and himself. Paulsen may be a little slow moving in this book but I think he did a great job. There is a line in this book that I have thought about a lot and that is when Wil says "if I can learn a fish, I can learn my father." I recommend this book to people who don't want a lot of adventure and action but a book to learn important lessons.

I enjoyed the first chapter of "The Rifle". It is the story of gunmaker, Cornish McManus, and John Byam who bought and used the gun in the Revolutionary War. The story then slowed down and the final part with the violent killing of a child was unlike any of Paulsen's other novels. It was almost as he was saying to the reader that guns do indeed kill regardless of what people do. This is the first book I've ever read by Gary Paulsen that I didn't totally enjoy.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is comparable to The River and The Hatchet because it has the same writing style. The very gifted and talented Gary Paulsen wrote The Rifle. Gary Paulsen writes this book in a calm fashion. He gives in depth detail of how the rifle was made during the Revolutionary War, and the life of the rifle untill present day. It is a suspense holding book of the history of a rifle that dates back to the Revolutionary War. A skilled gunsmith crafted it in Philadelphia to perfection at night in the light of a candle. It was then sold and used in the Revolutionary War by a man named John Byam. Then the rifle was stored in an attic untill 1993 when it was bought, sold, and traded by many people. After being in the hands of many people it was bound to be fired, and change the lives of may innocent people. Find out how by reading one of Gary Paulsen's best, The Rifle.

A Review by Nick

The Rifle is a very well written book about a man who makes the perfect rifle. This rifle makes it through both world wars, and tracks up to present day. This book is basically saying that that if we didn't have any guns that we would be better off. I did enjoy reading this book but I do not agree with its contents. It has a very right wing consecutive view on guns

I really liked reading this book, it was easy to follow and well written. I like the way the author

followed the rifle through time as it was passed down from generation to generation Another thing I liked about this book is how easy it is to understand and follow. You can tell the author new what he was doing when he wrote this book. . I did not like the books view on guns, it basically says gun are the devil they should be destroyed.

I think anybody would like this book especially people who hate guns.

The only Anglo teen in the tiny town of Tres Pinos, 15-year-old Janet finds herself something of a loner. Close to her artistic but newly-divorced mother, the girl struggles with racial isolation and strange, macho dating customs of the hispanic youth around her. At night she is haunted by a recurring dream, in which an Indian brave aims his arrow--in slow motion, never quite reaching its target--at a peaceful white doe. Is this
dream symbolic of Janet's emotional purity or of the slender, quiet girl herself? Is this a hint of things to come or a link to someone's past?

By day she is confused and embarrassed about her unexplained interest in the town bum, Billy Honcho.
Why does she feel drawn to help and befriend the old Indian wino, whom reputable townsfolk shun. Could he really once have lead his people with pride and dignity, demonstating compassion for human beings and respect for Mother Earth? Delight in Paulsen's magic--a tale of the survival of the soul; his deft literary fingers weave a gentle story of a girl's coming of age in a hostile social environment. As Janet embarks on her own personal vision quest, both centuries and cultures blur mysteriously. Is it permitted for two lonely seekers to
briefly share a love which never was, but could have been?
This book will appeal to middle schooll girls and offers excellent cross cultural insight.

Janet, a very lonely girl, has this dream about a deer, white as a pearl. An Indian brave stands, taking aim at the white deer. She wakes in time to save the deer, nearly shedding a tear. She lives in Tres Pinos, New Mexico, next to an Indian pueblo. The reason she's having this dream, shows. Once she starts seeing this Indian, how she starts to love him so. The setting of her dream is the white deer drinking in the moonlight, the holiness of the deer gleams, showing its symbol of peace and might. This story shows another view of different beliefs. It is meant-- Not to have any grief, just because of people's different beliefs. I thought this story was boring, although it had some good parts. But that's just me, saying "cause!" Hey! You out there might think it's good as a sweet tart. I found the part where Janet's dream of a white deer was not something I'd want to dream about, and then do some writing. But, again, that's just my opinion.

Isolated. Alone. Far from friends. These are all ways to describe Janet, the protagonist in The Night the White Deer Died. Janet is one of the few Anglo teens in the New Mexico art colony where she lives with her mother. For some reason she is drawn to Billy Honcho, an old, alcoholic Indian who begs some money from her. As they get to know each other, the meaning of Janet's dream (a recurring dream/nightmare of an Indian brave that stands poised to shoot a white deer drinking from a pool of water in the moonlight) begins to become clear to her. Billy becomes the brave in her dreams. I really liked this book. The plot was interesting and very realistic. The setting, in Tres Pinos, New Mexico sounded crowded and fun. If I could change one thing about this story I would have made it so Janet finished her dream, so she could have seen whether or not Billy Honcho the "brave of her dreams" would have shot the deer.

The Voyage of the Frog is a good book. It was sad at the beginning because Owen died. He gave his boat to David and told him to scatter his ashes on the ocean. David ran into some trouble on the way. It was very scary in the middle of the story when David dislocated his arm and almost ran into an oil tanker. At the end I was glad because David was going home.

I liked the book , The Voyage of The Frog, because it had lots of excitement in it! I was sad when I read that his Uncle Owen had cancer, so that part was emotional for me. The part about the shark is so cool because it also has excitement in it. It was just like "Jaws", the movie. I also thought that it was sad when he had to throw Owen's ashes into the sea. I thought the storms were scary. When the oil tanker came, I shuddered with fear. I thought when the wind picked up, it was so exciting. When the researchers came I was so excited. The book was great!

David Alspeth is the protagonist in this story. He is fourteen years old. He granted his uncle's last wish, taking his ashes out to sea, in a boat called The Frog. He went out to sea alone, where he couldn't see land or anybody. That's where his uncle wanted his ashes scattered...in a place in the sea that he loved so much to go boating on. After David stayed there awhile, a violent storm came up and thrashed everything around. His boat got thrown around like a toy boat in a tub. He took the sails down, and went below in the cabin, where he was knocked out. When he awoke he was in pain. He was able to pump most of the water out, then David checked his food supply....he had just a little bit. I liked this book because I like to go boating and I like to read adventure stories. I also liked the details and description.

Strange Objects is written by Gary Crew and published in 1991 by Mammoth Australia.

Have you ever wondered about the past and its influences on present life? And what happens when you suddenly bring the dead back to life? These and more are the questions your head will be filled with when reading this fantastic novel by Gary Crew. Crew's other novel bestsellers include The Inner Circle and Angel's Gate, and his creative and original approach will leave the reader thinking long before the last line has been read.

Strange Objects is about a boy named Steven Messenger who lives in the remoteness of the midway on Highway One - 25 kilometres south of Hamelin. Other characters inlcude Charlie Sunrise, Jan Pelgrom, and Nigel Kratzman. One day on a school Biology trip, quite by accident, Messenger discovers a pot containing a journal of survivor Wouter Loos of the Dutch shipwreck "Batavia" that struck rocks off the Western Australian coast in 1629, and a mummified human hand with a ring. Four months later Messenger disappears. Somehow, all these characters and events are linked, but how? Readers will be left with many questions - How was Messenger linked to the found items? Where did he go? What is the importance of this missing ring?
The somewhat difficult to follow plot seems fairly easy to understand, that is, until the last few chapters where it starts to get very strange indeed.... It could be described as keeping you in suspense, and very intriguing with a touch of craziness that is found only in very few people.

In this reviewer's opinion, Strange Objects is a somewhat scrambled tale, however through its open ended plots and questions left unanswered, one can see into a whole new dimension of themes. I think this is very cleverly done by Gary Crew and feel that his supremely talented ability has made this a book to remember, and shall keep me thinking for a long time after I have finished it. I must add however, that it bothered me somewhat about the lack of a distinct conclusion to a very open plotline.

Strange Objects is a spiritualistic and sometimes chilling tale that takes reader-text interpretation to a new level. This book is complex and at times confusing but at the same time is intriguing, gripping and original. It comes as no surprise that it was awarded the 1991 Australian children's book of the year.

Steven Messenger is a confused and empty teenager growing up in rural Australia. On a school Biology camp he stumbles upon mythical and sacred objects; an ancient, previously mummified human hand and a mysterious gold ring in an iron pot. These amazing discoveries soon become public knowledge and the question and fascination over the origin of these objects enthrals the public. Found too is a journal, dating back to the 17th Century, detailing the story of a criminal who survived banishment of a Dutch ship- the Batavia, which struck uncharted rocks off the Western Australian coast in 1629. Gary Crew uses multiple genres including Steven's personal journal, letters, newspaper articles, historical records and the publicly published journal of Wouter Loos, the survivor of the ship. Collectively these 'articles' slowly piece together the complex jigsaw surrounding the objects found and Steven's personal experiences, that take him closer and closer to the borderline of insanity as the story develops. Revealed too is the links the objects have with traditional Aboriginal culture and the mysterious native local, Charlie- a key figure in Steven's pursuits. What unfolds is a story that leaves an open interpretation for the reader- it is up to ones self to judge if this is fantasy, science fiction or indeed a second-hand account of actual events that unfolded.

This book will give you back, as much as you put in to it. Take a cynical and restricted outlook into this story and you too, like me, will be left no more than irritated and confused. In turn, hop on board Steven's twisted journey and the events that surround it and this book will leave you fascinated and begging for more.

Strange Objects, written by Gary Crew, is a very confusing book that tends to jump from genre to genre. Because of this, you have to be alert and in full thinking mode in order to link all of the texts and different genres together. There is much mystery from the first chapter of the book and it only gets more mysterious as the book progresses, introducing more questions and more confusion. You may think that the book is too hard to follow when you start to read it however if you are keen enough to read on, it gets much easier to follow the story line and the book itself. The story line will no doubt startle you when you try to categorise it as fiction, non-fiction, fantasy or science fiction since you will most probably not know if the events actually happened or not. The whole story line is worked around the historical event of the Batavia shipwreck that happened in 1629. Gary Crew has integrated many facts into the novel that can be verified as being non-fiction but there are many things that cannot be verified being fact so it is left for you to decide or to find out.

Steven Messenger is a teenager from rural Australia who stumbles across relics from the Batavia shipwreck in a cave during a school biology excursion. This relic contains crucial information about the past and has historical remains of people. A journal, which was written by one of the Batavia castaways, was found among the relics and is translated from Old Dutch into Modern English. Throughout the book, a parallel can be seen between events that happened in the Batavia castaways in 1629 and what is happening in the present and this also poses even more questions. Steven Messenger has possession of an important piece of the puzzle and he refuses to declare it to the professionals in the historical field. Steven finds the ring to have a power to change his dreams and to send him messages where he dreams about the past and other weird and wonderful things. Nigel Kratzman is Steven Messenger's neighbour and may even be his only friend and may be the only person who is willing to help Steven with what is happening around him.

This book is no doubt the kind of book that you have to be constantly thinking about how to piece together the information that is given to you and to sift out what is truth and what has been manipulated in some way or another. As another reader from Adelaide has mentioned in one of his reviews, 'You'll only get out of it, what you put into it!'

The Monument was a great book if you like art. It gives you the feel for what other artists like to draw and how they draw.
It all starts when Rocky meets the person who is deciding on the Monument. The artist, Mick, helps her find that she likes to draw and there is no right or wrong way to draw. Even though Mick might not draw the most enjoyable pictures, he still makes the town have a great monument that represents what the town's centerpiece.
I recommend this book for people who want to be artistic and people who really want to learn about art. Find out what Mick does for a Monument and more about Rocky's life in The Monument.

Gary Paulsen's book "The Monument", is about a small town in Kansas that wants to build a monument to honor the soliders who died in all of the wars. The artist they hire for the job, Mick, makes a special effort to get to know the towns people and he draws everything he sees about the town. Rocky, a young teen takes an interest in art and Mick. As she gets to know Mick, as well as art, she also discovers herself. This book presents an interesting view of art from the artist's point of view and gives the reader insight into human nature.

Gary Paulsen is an excellent writer of young adult novels. I'm am pleased with his other novels-TiltaWhirl John and The Car. He takes each character and make you feel their emotions by making his character come alive in various places and situations.

However, He has done an excellent job with this book by putting his reader in the eyes of an artist. Mick and Rocky join together to share the need for art in a small town in Bolton, Kanas.

Mick will produce a monument for the people of Bolton to last a life time!