The three-time Newbery Honor-winning author of Hatchet shares the story of his turbulent childhood, his escape into military service and the life-changing impact of an encouraging librarian who handed him his first book.

The common theme of nuclear disaster and human vulnerability interweaves the lives of four young people, an Ojibway Indian, an illegal Mexican migrant worker, a rock musician, and a sheep rancher's daughter with the lives of three veterans of past wars.

Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel.