Related Titles and Adaptations
Eastern Sun, Winter Moon offers a fuller account of Paulsen’s life in the Philippines and Snowball than does My Life in Dog Years. Paulsen says that the place was insane, and it certainly seems to have...
View ArticleIdeas and Topics for Papers
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What was the most important thing Snowball gave Paulsen? Why would Snowball remain fresh in his memory 50 years later? 2. Why does Paulsen regard Ike as a friend, not as a pet?...
View ArticleSocial Sensitivity
This book is primarily about a man’s relationship with dogs. Paulsen makes few attempts to universalize his experiences; he does say that he believes dogs are necessary to civilized living, and he does...
View ArticleLiterary Qualities
Paulsen is a sort of poet of the wilderness, and he paints pictures of it in spare sentences that are vibrant with color, as in “The maples were red gold and filtered the sunlight so that you could...
View ArticleThemes and Characters
My Life in Dog Years is an autobiography because it is about Paulsen’s relationship with dogs, but the dogs are the stars of the book. Paulsen declares: I am-I say this with some pride and not a little...
View ArticleSetting
Paulsen moved so much and so many times that it is hard to pin down exactly where he lived at any given moment. Thus, the settings for My Life in Dog Years wander; adding to the confusion is that the...
View ArticleOverview
My Life in Dog Years contains stories about several of Paulsen’s dogs. A few are sad, but even the sad ones can be funny. For instance, in “Dirk,” Paulsen lives in a basement, surviving on what he can...
View ArticleAbout the Author
Gary Paulsen was born on May 17, 1939, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father served in the military and Paulsen did not meet him until 1946, when the family joined him in the Philippines. Paulsen...
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