The Rifle by Gary Paulsen

Paulsen, Gary. The Rifle. San Deigo: Harcourt Brace, 1995. 112 pages. $5.95 ISBN 9780152928803

Plot Summary: The story follows the life of a rifle created in 1768. After the death of the original owner the gun is passed on through more than two centuries until it falls into the hands of a mechanic. Richard is just an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Critical Evaluation: This book mesmerized me when I read it in 1995. I was amazed at the detail Paulsen went into about the creation of the gun and then the events leading up to the tragic shot. Reading it again years later I can definitely see where Paulsen pushes "guns don't kill people, people kill people" but still feel that it is a moving book. I'm not sure though that a two hundred year old gun would fire without exploding on the holder, or would fire at all.

Reader's Annotation: Since 1768 the rifle has changed hands, not one checking to see if the gun was loaded.

Author Bio: Gary Paulsen is the author of several young adult novels including Hatchet, Nightjohn and The Winter Rooms. He has won several awards including a Newbery Honor. He lives in La Luz, NM with his wife Ruth. He also runs 40 acres of land north of Willow, AK where he breeds and trains sled dogs for the Iditarod.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction

Curriculum Ties: This could be tied into Revolutionary history, but also with any study of gun laws.

Booktalking Ideas: Talk about the history of prized objects and how one object can pass through so many lives without the people realizing all the history behind the object.

Reading Level/Interest Age: Ages 12 and up

Challenges: The fact that it is about a gun may cause issues, as well as the graphic scene at the end of the novel about Richard being shot.

Reason for including: For some reason this book has stuck with me over the years. I remember reading the scene at the end when the boy gets shot a few times, each time amazed that Paulsen went into all that detail and disgusted at the same time. I think it is a good book for tweens to read, if not for anything else then for them to realize guns are dangerous.