UNIT 2 READING 4 “An Interview with Gary Paulsen.”

“An Interview with Gary Paulsen.”
Gary Paulsen is a writer who grew up in a troubled home. To deal with his
troubles at home, he used to spend long periods of time alone in the woods. By the age of twelve, he had taught himself how to survive in the wilderness. In the interview, he tells about how his childhood has influenced his writing. He also talks about the writing process and gives advice to young writers. Hatchet is a
fictional novel about a thirteen-year-old boy named Brian who survives a plane crash alone in the Canadian wilderness. All Brian has with him is a hatchet and his survival skills. He knows that to survive he has to make a shelter, find food, and build a fire to stay warm. Before long he has done all three.

Literary Words

• author’s influences: includes the author’s

time and place of birth, cultural background,

personal experiences, and world events that

took place during the author’s lifetime

• external conflict: In a work of fiction, a

problem between a character and some

outside force, such as another person or a

force of nature

Academic Words

available = able to be used or seen 
➡ The boy looked for the closest available food
source he could find.

injured = hurt 
➡ The fall from the ledge hurt his leg and left him badly injured.

structure = a building or something that has been built 
➡ He built a structure to live in. It is made of wood.

survive = continue to live after an accident or illness 
➡ The boy had one goal—to survive until someone came to rescue him.

Solidified Compounds

Closed compound nuns are often also referred to as solidified compounds.
Most of them have slowly developed over time. What used to be two words, one
describing the other (notebook referring to a book to take notes) slowly became
one new word (notebook). Point out that most compounds are stressed on the
first syllable. This often helps to distinguish a compound noun from noun phrases
consisting of a noun plus a verb or an adjective. Example: A black board (stress
on board) could be any board that happens to be black, whereas a blackboard
(stress on black) is the particular board used in classrooms all over the country.
Examples of solid compound nouns are: blackbird, wallpaper, bedroom, lawsuit,
toothpaste and housewife.


Highlighted Words