Gary Paulsen, Lifesaver?

-- Publishers Weekly, 3/20/2007 2:00:00 PM

In case you needed proof that books can save lives—Michael Auberry, the 12-year-old who disappeared from his Boy Scout troop on Saturday in North Carolina, was found alive Tuesday morning in a remote mountain area, and a children’s book may have helped him survive. A few years ago Auberry read Gary Paulsen’s Newbery Honor novel Hatchet, about a boy who is deserted on an island after a plane crash and learns to live off the land, and some of its survival lessons may have sunk in. "I think he’s got some of that book on his mind," his father told CNN.

"If the book helped at all, I'm very glad," Paulsen told Fox News. "The boy in the book learned that you can't panic, you have to stay sensible and calm. If that was part of what helped Michael I would be extremely glad."

 The 20-year-old book continues to be a backlist staple; it sold 131,000 copies last year. Paulsen, who has written dozens of novels since Hatchet was released in 1987, also appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. The book was up to 182 on Amazon.com by Wednesday morning.

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