The Island

by Gary Paulsen

From a master storyteller comes a unique exploration into the exhilarating joys—and the inevitable dangers—of total solitude.

Every day, 15yo Wil Neuton gets up, brushes his teeth, leaves the house, and rows away from shore. He's discovered the island, a place where he can go to be alone and learn to know nature—and himself.

Wil's only mission is to let go of the outside world. But the outside world refuses to let go of him. His family regards him as a puzzle. The town bully is determined to challenge him. And suddenly, even reporters know his name.

He can confront them all, or he can embrace his solitude forever. Just one thing is certain now: Wil Neuton will no longer be relying on anybody but himself.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Nature, Childrens

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1988

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a librarian. This was a free book. I picked this at random from my TBR jar. I read it. Didnt care for it. Now I can donate it. 😄

...serves me right for gravitating towards a free book. I mean, it was so boring I had trouble finishing it..le sigh!😌.
However, I never DNF anything, so I finished this story...sometimes I wish I could chuck a book to the wind, but it's just not my style. I would pass on this coming of age novel. I'm so over it I wont even describe it 😅

(2)🌟🌟

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gary Paulsen produced a few sterling novels in the 1970s (notably Tiltawhirl John and The Foxman), but the '80s were the launch of his golden era, a decade that saw him win three Newbery Honors. Debuting in 1988, The Island combines the wilderness magic of Hatchet and the plainspoken wisdom of the author's novels from the '70s into a simmering pot of stew like nothing else I've tasted. You have to meditate on a book like The Island to get the most out of it. A superficial read-through is likely to leave you as high and dry as Wil's parents, not understanding what others see in the story any more than the main character's mother and father comprehend his relationship to the island. I encourage you to marinate in Gary Paulsen's words, to see the ether of life as Wil sees it, quietly observing to learn all there is to know, knowledge beyond our brain's capacity to store or process. Let the thoughts fill you like wild birds perching together on a wire with no predators around to bother them, and you'll finish The Island with a new peace about the world and your place in it, an urge to get to know the world you thought you met years ago but were never truly more than passing acquaintances with. If you favor stories of deep philosophy, you might end up saying The Island is the best book of Gary Paulsen's career.

Wil Neuton at age fourteen isn't so different from other kids. He's tall—over six feet—but he's no transcendentalist before moving with his parents from Madison, Wisconsin, to the rural northern part of the state when his father lands a promotion within the highway department. Wil misses his friends and the girl he liked who never showed interest in him, but leaving Madison isn't a huge deal. Besides the local handyman, a frightful-looking oldster named Emil Aucht, the new town is easy to adjust to. Wil meets Susan, a girl his age who lives on a dairy farm, and they settle into an easy friendship despite Wil's typical lack of social grace for a boy of fourteen. His parents are laid-back, so Wil can take off on his bike all day to explore, and he has time for that and more as summer rolls in. Then he comes upon the U-shaped island out on Sucker Lake, and a small minnow boat to ferry him there, and Wil's life changes. It's not Susan behind the change so much as the island, but she's in the mix too, every experience in Wil's life helping it happen. His first day on the island Wil watches the loons out on the water, eyeing him warily in case he turns out to be a threat. Wil occasionally makes too much noise and the island's animals scurry for cover, but he doesn't want to scare them off, and learns quickly how not to. Sitting on the island, just him and the animals, the change is already setting in. On his way back to shore that evening, Wil knows he'll return to his island. The realization is as natural as can be.

Any boy-girl awkwardness with Susan fades when she recognizes that Wil is no longer the shy boy he was when they met only a few days ago. His trips to the island are a sacred venture she doesn't intrude on without permission, hailing him from shore to ask if he'll pick her up and take her back there with him. Wil hardly knows how to explain what he's doing on the island every day, sometimes writing his parents a note saying he's going to camp there for a day or two at a time. Sitting silently and watching the island creatures without judgment or motive, he absorbs a small, priceless portion of their essence, the miracle of life, and hungers for more. Yet who can know anyone or anything perfectly, even after a lifetime in their presence? Wil's desire for more, to know the animals, know himself, know his family and friends and strangers, is insatiable, but it calms down on the island, surrounded by wildlife in its most unencumbered form. He explains what he sees to himself by drawing pictures, though he's not a talented artist, and by writing what he feels in his notebook. Susan can't fathom what Wil's doing until he allows her an intimate peek into his new life: the notebooks, the sketches, depicting an inner fulfillment Wil never knew until he stepped on the island, tuned out the world's cacophony, and began listening to his own reflections about the drama of nature happening around him. The unpretentious beauty of Wil's recorded thoughts, conjured into existence for no reason but that such thoughts are worth having, chokes Susan up with emotion. She's never met a boy like Wil, with the patience to find himself in the majesty of solitude and not wave the quiet away in favor of mindless entertainment. It's barely a surprise to her when Wil confides his intention to stay on the island as long as necessary to learn what he's meant to find here. He won't step foot off it until then, fearful of this feeling being gone by the time he returned to reconnect with the earth's ancient spirit. Susan leaves to inform Wil's parents, and promises to bring food and writing/drawing supplies for as long as he stays. Susan visits every day, and still the boy watches and learns.

"Perhaps when I am grown I will not know anything. Perhaps that is the way it works, the way it is with growing. When you grow, you start to unlearn things."

—The Island, P. 127

Finding himself can't be that easy, of course. Wil's parents arrive in a motorboat, grim and unhappy, insisting their wayward son go home with them. They don't know why Wil is bivouacking on a strange island; is it drugs? Is he doing drugs in secret? Has he hooked up with a cult? Is that why he speaks of meditating out here alone, and won't come home? Wil could lose every piece of the puzzle that he's assembled inside himself if he's forced to vacate his island now. His mother and father see only a rebellious teen, but that's not what this is about. He wishes they could reconcile themselves to what he must do out here, but even if they can't, he's not going back. Weird news travels rapidly, and before long there are other anxieties for Wil: a bully who inflicts damage with his fists and can't seem to express himself any other way; a journalist fascinated by a teen living alone on an island, wanting to get the scoop, to know why he's really here, aware that she isn't seeing the whole picture at first; television news reporters who shoot footage of Wil to broadcast to even more people, most of whom have zero chance of grasping why he'd want to be alone on his island. But his parents are the only hurdle that matters, the only ones besides Susan who he cares if they understand his ambiguous quest. Attaining peace means knowing the people who belong to you, and Wil hopes the island's insights can bridge the gap between parent and child as they stand on opposite sides and coax each other to join them on their side. Resolving the impasse may be the island's final lesson for Wil, though he'll never truly stop learning from it. However it happened, he, the island, and its animals are as one now. The transformation occurred the first moment he stepped on its sandy shore.

The Island has no flashy plot twists, but its wisdom is as deep as anything by Gary Paulsen, a bold claim to those who've read him. The story is a mineshaft that seems to extend down forever, the soil and rock packed with revelatory thought like jewels of inestimable value. Wil observes the blue heron in action, performing its graceful dance above the water and striking at frogs under the surface for a meal, and he knows he could devote his life to understanding the heron, to just understanding one frog it ate, and he'd never come close to even that. Serious readers go at literature the same way, hoping to gain some personal epiphany from the lives of the characters. Yet it's impossible to be familiar with every book, impossible even to absolutely know one book, though you read it a hundred times and glean more each time through. That's the mystery of creativity, the practically infinite nuance of everything, a wonder of drama and design. Non-readers don't get why we're passionate about books, clinging to them like life preservers on the rough ocean, but it's because they are life preservers; without them we'd be tossed about by whatever waves take us, with no power to defend ourselves. Our own inertia, the discouragement of others, pressure to conform to societal prejudices, are waves that would drown us if we had no literature to buoy us with challenges to the way we think, innovative philosophy, and hopeful words to keep our heads above water. We'll never exhaustively know ourselves, but without stories, we'd scarcely know ourselves at all.

Many Gary Paulsen novels leave a tenacious residue of thought, The Island more than most. When Wil and his parents move in to their new house in upper Wisconsin, his mother plasters on a fake smile and "We'll get by somehow" cheerfulness, a habit that annoys her son and husband more than it alleviates stress. As Wil sees it, "(Y)ou didn't want somebody running around smiling and saying, 'We'll get by,' when the house was on fire; you wanted somebody to yell 'fire!'" I've never heard that criticism phrased quite so adroitly, and I'll remember it when I encounter people who lean on synthetic positivity in suboptimal circumstances. Each chapter of The Island opens with a short essay by Wil, presumably written while he's voluntarily marooned on his island, and some of the book's better insights are found here. "Adults can be strange", he starts one. "It's almost as if they have their own natural laws that have nothing to do with the natural laws the rest of us use." He tells about his uncle who called him a fool for playing Dungeons & Dragons for an entire weekend at a friend's house. Yet that uncle once spent the same amount of time playing poker with Wil's father and a few other guys for pennies. What's a less foolish way to invest your hours, D&D or poker? Adults tend to have a superiority complex toward kids, assuming their own activities are naturally better, because what do kids know? Wil's anecdote exposes that as the soft and all-too-common bigotry of adulthood. Another essay comments on blind faith in the tradition of growing up, getting a job, and working until retirement. Wil buys into that concept when a favorite teacher emphasizes it to his students, but Wil's resolve wavers one spring day when his friend Petey invites him to go fishing. Why should he wile away his prime years at a thankless job when he could do something rewarding instead? To be financially secure, the teacher answered, "To have leisure time when he got old". For what? "Well, he said, to go fishing." "But I can go fishing now," Wil replied. It makes you reevaluate the tenets of society we unquestioningly accept. Is a few years of comfortable retirement when you're old worth mortgaging the precious years of your youth? It's something to think long and hard about.

The endless variety within a single creature first dawns on Wil when he imitates the pristine grace of the blue heron, first by moving his own body to match it and then attempting to capture the bird's essence in a series of drawings and essays. "And he realized he could sit and write and draw and dance the heron, just the heron, for all the pages of all the rest of his life and not understand it. He could spend all of what he was just on the heron...I can try but I cannot know it. And there was some fear in the knowledge but also satisfaction that there could be mystery like that, a mystery that he could spend his life on and not understand." When you fall in love, you feel the sweet, stifling urgency in your chest to know that person inside and out, to have them as they can only be yours after you know all there is to know about who they are. But a soul can't be apprehended; you could reach out forever and never take hold of it. That unsatisfiable passion is what draws you to your beloved after you settle into relational normality. As Wil watches the heron, trying to distill its life energy into something he can intellectually grab hold of, a new way of looking at the bird comes to him. "But it was not enough to see him as he is and then I decided that the way to look at him, to look at blue herons with all their beauty, might be to see where they aren't; to look for the shadow of them instead of the body of them." Wil grasps the heron in his mind by seeing its reflection in the water at its feet; by seeing the wind that sways the reeds but doesn't move the heron, poised in the water hunting for food; by seeing the sky it fills with its elegant form, and the golden morning sun. "I could see the heron in all the things the heron was, without seeing the heron at all, and it changed me, made me look at all things that way, made me see in a new way and, finally, made me look at myself in that new way. Not at what I was, not at what I looked like or could see of myself but at what I wasn't that made me what I was. I saw...myself in my friends, saw myself in Susan, saw myself in the faces of my parents and the way my mother smiled or my father yelled—in all that I wasn't I found myself...At the end, I could see myself in the heron." Is there a better way to see the true person than looking at how they affect others? Seeing how people fit around them in a crisscross of emotional ties, how they influence, enrich, and grieve those people. It's all part of the story, revealing the person we're dying to know, and by seeing ourselves through the places we aren't, we can see our own struggle in any creature that exists. The impact we have on others writes the story of who we are.

By the time Wil's parents get involved in his stay on the island, we've seen what the place means to him, and fret at the possibility of him being forcibly removed. Wil has found something that allows him quiet happiness, which everyone says they're in search of but too often tear down when someone finds it in a place that doesn't make sense to them. How could his parents think nothing of stealing his serenity? Wil's mother and father aren't given to overreaction, but his recent discovery of self and the marvels of life won't translate for his parents. "(T)here was something this time they couldn't get past, some part of what he was doing they couldn't see, and he knew only that he had to do it. More than anything in his life he had to do this." His parents become histrionic as he calmly refuses to go with them. His father says he won't make him leave immediately, "Because he wasn't sure that would help Wil, to make him leave, help him with whatever his problem was, whatever it turned out to be. Something psychological, he said—it was something psychological, the problem." Isn't it amazing how people react if we find solace in a lifestyle that doesn't compute for them? You can be smart, rational, ready to explain why you feel as you do, but if your choices strike them as unnatural or improper, the hostility levied against you is likely to be intense. What does it matter if no else one can see the beauty of the island you've discovered, as long as you enjoy it? Violent reactions by others can make you doubt, as noted in Wil's stream of thought. "When [his parents] were gone, Wil stood a moment, looking across the bay, wondering if there were really something 'psychological' about him, a problem he could not know about because if he knew, it wouldn't be a problem—one of those weird things. But as he stood, the loons came back around...and into the bay; then when the motor sound was completely gone the bird sounds came back, and he decided it didn't matter. He was not what he had been before, and his parents were not what they had been, and a great sadness was there, was part of that knowledge, but still it was so. He was what he was, and if he was wrong or had mental problems, that was still the way he was, the way he had to live. He was what the island had made him and continued to make him." You can't empirically know if your refuge, the unexpected source of undying joy in your life, is as real as you perceive it or the delusion of a mind desperate for something more to life, but what is there for us but to live as our heart tells us we must? Our island may be the best thing we'll ever know, and we must not let anybody evict us from it. It would rend the soul from flesh, bone, and blood, a trauma from which there is dim prognosis of recovery. The time is at hand to explore your island. Don't let anyone talk you out of doing so.

It isn't only animals and his own family that Wil wants to know. He listens intently as Susan tells him all about her mother, a woman he met only once. Susan spills more details than she remembered knowing, of her mother's stressful adolescence and long road to happiness with Susan's father. What brought about change for her? Susan guesses it was finding the love of her life, but Wil senses it's more than that. Marriage was the result of change, not the change itself. Wil figures out what it was. "And in the end I could only guess, could only hope to see a tiny part of it. It comes down to core. The center of Susan's mother was her, was always her, and when things didn't work right around the center she would change them but keep the center, keep the core. She and Susan had the same core. I think. The same center so that when the gold light hit them they were the same person because the gold somehow lighted the center of them, lighted the core of them. And I thought that if I could know the center of her, of Susan's mother, then I would know Susan. So I tried but I think now it's something you can't do. You can't really know it but only try to know it and that's perhaps what living with other people is about, trying to learn the center of them, learn what they are, learn their core when they are in the golden dusty light of a kitchen window." The people we love and depend on are indispensable, but maybe we're still something without them, even when they exit our lives and the light fades with them. We put our all into loving them, convinced they're the greatest good we can know, but maybe there's quality stuff in our core that helps us adapt to losing them, repurposing the energy of our sorrow to find life again after crushing loss. It's the core that sustains us, the core of himself and others that Wil is pursuing on the island. His search will never be over, but life is about trying to find that core even as it hovers perpetually just out of reach. We'll never run out of islands to explore.

Subtlety in teen lit isn't rare, but The Island takes it to a new level. You'll make it to the end and think not much happened if you're not attuned, so take your time digesting this story. As long as I've gone on about it in this review, I'm not sure I've captured its magic, but that's the point: no bird, close friend, or novel can be absolutely assimilated. Enigma will remain regardless of how hard we try, and that's not a bad thing. For novels of profound thought, that means with each read we can expect to learn more, and The Island certainly merits a few rereads. I'd give it three and a half stars, and considered rounding to four. This book will influence my philosophy for the long haul, and I'm glad for that. May it do the same for you.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my favorite's by Gary Paulsen, second only to The Transall Saga! I couldn't even tell you what it is about this book that I love so much. Perhaps it's Gary Paulsen's writing style, which so smooth and easy to read with such a lovely rhythm to it that I feel like I right there with the characters... Either way, this book is a great read, I have read it over and over again and it just gets better every time! The journey of the main character is so inspiring and it always makes me want to "get back to nature," or at least go find my own private island haha! Read it!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the nature/survival tales that really speaks to you. From a boy coming of age and in a strange new environment, "The Island" rivals some of my favorite books in the same genre: My Side of the Mountain, The River Why, and of course Hatchet. I will definitely be reading this again; the subtle language and metaphor are drawing me back in. One of Paulsen's finest.

[Vishy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got Gary Paulsen's 'The Island' years back, when I was browsing at the bookshop. I got it because the theme of the book appealed to me. For some reason, I never got around to reading it. Then in the last two weeks, when I was flitting from one book to another like a butterfly (I read 100 pages in one book, 75 pages in a second one, 15 pages in third one, and 45 pages in a fourth one – if I had read all these pages from one book, I would have finished reading that book!) and my heart told me that I am getting into a reading slump, I wondered which book I should start next which would retain my attention, and Gary Paulsen's book leapt at me. I read the first page and immediately knew that this was the one.

The story told in 'The Island' goes like this. Wil Neuton is an introverted fifteen year old boy. One day his father comes home from work and tells Wil and his mother that they have to move to a new town in the next few days as he has to take up a new position there. After some initial shock and chaos, Wil's mother and Wil accept the inevitable and move to the new town which is a four-hour drive away. This new town is a small rural town, everyone knows everyone, people are warm and friendly, and there are lots of farms nearby. Wil becomes friends with a girl called Susan, whose parents run the dairy farm. There is a river nearby and Wil discovers an island in the middle of the river. He finds a boat in the riverbank and one day he rows to the island. Wil loves the solitude in the island and he sits there and observes the herons, the loons (a bird which looks like a duck), the fishes and the frogs and before he knows magic starts happening.

I will stop here. You should read the book to find out what happens next.

'The Island' is a YA (Young Adult) book. But it is no ordinary YA book. It reads like a cross between Henry David Thoreau's 'Walden' and Tove Jansson's 'The Summer Book'. Contemporary YA books these days have a romantic story at the core and explore other themes around that, which are based on a contemporary issues or on one of the big universal questions. 'The Island' veers so much away from this model that one could almost guess that it didn't come out recently. When I checked the publishing year, I discovered that it was 1988 – that is more than thirty years back. That was a time when YA literature wasn't what it is today, and a writer could write a contemplative, introspective novel like 'The Island'. I can't imagine a YA novel being written like this, today - the landscape has changed so much. I am thankful that Gary Paulsen wrote this in a different era. Gary Paulsen's prose is incredibly beautiful – there were beautiful passages throughout the book that I couldn't stop highlighting. Every chapter starts with a small passage written by Wil and many of the chapters have a story or an essay by Wil at the end. They both are beautiful. I loved most of the characters in the book. Of course, Wil towers above them all, because this is a novel about an introvert after all, but I also loved Susan, Wil's friend, (Susan's and Wil's friendship is depicted so beautifully in the book), Wil's parents, and a few other people who make an appearance.

I loved 'The Island'. It is one of my alltime favourite YA novels. I am ashamed that I didn't read it all these years, though I have had it in my shelf, but I am glad I finally read it. It might have been even a good thing that I read it only know, because I think I understood the story and appreciated it better now than I would have done if I had read it all those years back when I first got the book. I am hoping to read more Gary Paulsen books now.

I will leave you with some of my favourite passages from the book.

"Part of our problem is that we run around naming things without asking them if they want to be named. Then after we name them, they don't know they're named anyway. A tree doesn't know it's a tree; a fish doesn't know it's a fish; and if the fish did know, it would probably be upset by it. Who wants to be called fish?"

"Part of him wanted to see her, and part of him wanted to be alone, but the parts were like two separate people and did not seem in conflict."

"Wil took out the notebook and worked more on the piece about his grandmother. He could remember her so well, he thought, and yet when he tried to write about her and being with her, it would come out wrong. Not wrong, exactly, but just not complete. The words worked, but they didn't work right because he didn't know enough about how to use them. After an hour of writing, or trying to write about her, he put the pencil down and leaned back against the side of the boat.
The images that came to him were so clear, but when he tried to describe them – no, explain them...and there it was, there was the trouble with it. He wasn't writing about his grandmother. He was explaining her. And that, he thought, was not a way to learn about her, about what she had been to him.
He took up the notebook again and started to write, and this time he didn't explain or describe; he simply wrote what she meant to him, what she was as he saw her, and it thundered out of him. He could not stop it, and as he wrote he remembered more about her, small things, and he wondered, wondered that he could remember them now and have them be so real but not have known he was seeing them at the time."

"We sat at Susan's house in the kitchen and Susan's mother brought us lunch, what they call dinner, and I didn't pay so much attention to her, the way you do with adults you've just met because usually they aren't all that interesting, but the light came in the kitchen window over the sink. It was a pale light because it came through the curtain and the curtain was yellow and so it made the light gold, a pale yellow gold color that had little bits of dust riding in it and the light but her face, hit Susan's mother's face, and set it to shining gold right at the cheekbone and up into her eyes.
It lighted her face to make it glow, and when she turned it moved into her hair, which was a gentle brown but turned into gold with the sun from the kitchen window and it was pretty, more than pretty, but still not so much. I saw it, but didn't think so much of it except that the light seemed to make her more than she was, maybe; set her off the way a frame sets off a painting.
But later at the island I saw the evening light which was gold and it hit Susan, gold coming through the air hit Susan, and made her face shine and moved into her eyes and into her hair and it made me think of her mother, made her look like her mother.
No. That's not quite right. It wasn't that she looked like her mother so much as that she and her mother had the same...same core. The light hit them and made them the same. Not just made them look alike. But made them the same."

Have you read Gary Paulsen's 'The Island'? What do you think about it?

[Margaret Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

something akin to voight's a solitary blue in terms of introspection - and herons and lakes and boats and things. i've always had a deep connection with nature, and find myself connecting with books about characters with the same deep connection. this was one of those books.

[George Crowder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is sort of a teenage version of Thoreau's On Golden Pond, in which a boy isolates to go deep within himself and embrace his creative spirit. Many of Paulsen's books deal with the experience of isolation and the self-knowledge that can emerge when embedded in nature. Good read.

[Cecilia Borobia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this from my English teacher in sixth grade, at a point when I really hated going to school every day, and read a little bit of it every night when I got home.

Such a relief. Just the descriptions of water and sunshine and a confused, quiet, intelligent kid and his not-so-confused, a little less quiet, equally intelligent friend/possible love interest made me want to make it last for years.

To some, especially older readers, it will seem cliché and boring and meaningless. But my young heart made a meaning for me and this book made me feel simultaneously safe and adventurous.

Plus, it was kind of funny.

UPDATE
I read it again, and guess what? It's as good as I remembered! Possibly better because I actually understand what's going on now. It had some legitimately funny moments, especially in Wil's essays before each chapter.
But more than that, it had some very good insights into the nature of people and animals and things, even if I didn't agree with all of it.
Note:
It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Wil had had a cell phone. I don't know when this book was written, but it didn't come up at all, and I feel like that's what's holding a lot of teens back from the type of transcendental transformation that he goes through. (Almost entirely our own fault, though.)

[Hunter Soerens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Island
Personal Response
I really enjoyed reading The Island. Gary Paulsen has to be my favorite author of all time. His books have always really spoken to me. I also liked the outdoors and most of his books were about the outdoors. The Island was a very good book and very easy to understand.

Plot
Wil was a young boy from Madison, Wisconsin. His father worked for the highway department. One day Wil came home from school and learned that his father had been sent farther north to work on the highway. Two days later, they were on their way up to Pinewood. When they arrived to Pinewood, they unpacked and Wil went for a bike ride. He rode past a lake. He saw a small island on the lake. He took a look across the lake and realized that there was a little boat sitting on the shore. He rowed the little boat out to the island and explored. After a few more bike rides and explorations, he decided to stay on the island for a while. His parents thought he was on drugs. There were many people who did not understand him but there were also a lot of people who understood him. One day a news lady rowed out to him and wrote a story on him. A few days later a T.V crew came and took video of him. He was not too happy about it, but he lived with it.

Characterization
Wil was a young boy who had to move out of his hometown to a northern town. He was very interested in an Island near his new house. He started living on that Island.
Susan was a young girl whose family owned a dairy farm down the road from Wil’s new house. She was helping Wil at the island. She also kissed Wil once, but cut him off.
Wil’s mom and dad were very worried about Wil when he moved to the Island. They thought he was on some sort of drugs. At the end of the story, they were very understanding about the situation.

Setting
The book started in Madison, Wisconsin. Will's dad came home and told the family they were moving. This was very important to the story line, because if they did not move Wil would not have found the island. The rest of the story took place on the island. Will lived on a big rock. It was located on the south side of the island. The island is also located in the northern part of Wisconsin. The book took place in modern times because Wil’s family had cars and the news media broadcasted a story about him.

Theme
The theme of the book was self discovery. Wil chose to stay on an island for a while during his summer. He had found something on that island that he could not explain. He had to isolate himself on the Island to better understand himself and nature. He also learned to better understand his relationship with his parents while on the island.



Recommendation
I would recommend this book to people who are twelve and older of any gender. This book had some bigger words in it that people under twelve might not understand it. It would also be a great book for any outdoor adventurist. It would be a great book for an outdoor type of class to read.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Perhaps when I am grown I will not know anything. Perhaps that is the way it works, the way it is with growing. When you grow, you start to unlearn things." - Gary Paulsen 'The Island' page 127

The Island tells the story of introverted fifteen-year-old Wil Neuton who has recently moved to small town Pinewood, Wisconsin with his parents. Will discovers the Island and eventually he begins to row his boat over to it everyday. At the island he can be alone, he learns more about nature and he grows as he learns more about himself. I really enjoy the way Paulsen writes, there is a rythym to the sentences and his words smoothly flow together.

It's an inspiring coming - of - age tale that reads as a YA but, it was written before the time of YA became an official category of books and I think it's overarching theme of self discovery is applicable to people of any age. 3.5 stars!

[Wisteria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. In fact. I think it is my favorite short book. I felt I could really relate to the main character, except that I would have never thought fighting that one kid in defense of the girl was wrong. Otherwise I thought its book was beautiful and meaningful.

[Steven Billington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response:
I like The Island by Gary Paulsen because it is about a boy whose name is Wil who moves from Wisconsin to Alaska. Another reason I like The Island is it shows it is okay to do things and explore the outdoors. I dislike how his parents do not really care about him until he goes to the island. I also dislike how the story ends because it ends in a cliffhanger.

Plot :
The book is about a boy whose name is Wil who just recently moves to Alaska. Wil is pretty disappointed that his dad took the highway construction job in Alaska. When Wil is at Alaska, he goes for a ride on his bike and stumble across a lake. Wil sees an island not too far away from the shore. After Wil found the island, he wants it to be a secret that only he knows about. Wil does not realize Susan is watching him. She later introduces herself as Susan to Wil, and she wants to know why he takes a minnow boat out to the island. Wil tells her he wants to experience the outdoors. Wil starts to stay at the island for more than a few days. Wil’s parents think something is wrong with him. Wil´s parents go to the island to talk to him. Wil talks to the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist tells his parents that there is nothing to worry about for their son. A news reporter talks to Wil to see why he is on this island. Wil also tells her it is for him to understand wildlife and others should also experience it for themselves.

Characterization:
Wil is the main character of this story and is a fifteen-year-old boy who moves from Wisconsin to Alaska. Susan is a nosy girl who is also the same age as Wil and wants to know more about her neighbor. Wil´s parents are first laid back and do not really care what Wil does as long as he does not do anything wrong. Wil´s parents do not worry about Wil until he starts to stay on the island. They do not understand why he is staying on an island.

Setting:
The Book The Island takes place in Alaska and on an island. For Wil, the island means a lot for him and it gives him ideas to paint his surroundings. It makes Wil remember his grandmother at her house from up north at her cabin. He remembers what she likes to do such as knitting and admiring Wil’s artwork.

Recommendation:
I would recommend The Island to any boy or girl who likes the outdoors or the art of painting. The reading level should be very easy even for a middle schooler to understand. There should not be an age limit for this book because it tells people to go and experience the outdoors.

[Carter Dittmann]

Personal Response: Personally, I think the book, The Island , by Gary Paulsen is a very good book. The author does a good job explaining everything the characters are doing in good detail. Paulsen never skips a beat as far as forgetting certain people throughout the story, or their personalities. The book describes everything in such good detail, that it is very enjoyable to read.

Plot Summary: Wil, a main character, goes out to the island and he really loves it out there. His parents are very confused about why he loves it so much. They are trying to figure out why Wil is out there literally every single day. Wil is trying to learn things about himself, wildlife, and people around him. Susan, a girl who Wil met, sort of likes Wil. She is trying really hard to figure out Wil for herself. One day, Susan finds herself on the island with Wil. She understands more now why Wil is out there alone all the time.

Characterization: Wil is a pretty decent kid, and he is just getting familiar with moving to a rural area from a huge main city. He is sort of shy in his own special way, but he gets along with people just fine. Wil will always be there to help anyone no matter what their problem might be. Wil is a very smart, friendly young man in the story, but he is a little different than the average young man in his time.

Wil’s parents were concerned about Will being out on the island. They thought Wil had gone crazy. Wil’s mom was very concerned about his well being, making sure he was safe and not getting into trouble. His mother sent out a news crew during the story to go interview and talk to Wil to see what he is doing out there. The news crew made a television program about Will being out on the island. They told him that he was one of a special kind of kid.

Setting: This book starts off in urban Madison, Wisconsin in the summer. The family moves out to Alaska for the father to take a new job before the harsh winter starts. It is fairly remote where the family has moved to, but there is enough things to do so they do not get bored. They find that they really like the way of life out where they have moved to in Alaska. They moved to a city near Nome, Alaska. The story takes place back in 1988 when working on the railroads was a big job.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read a story about someone else’s interest. The text of the book is really simple and easy to read along and stay caught up with. I would recommend this book to anyone ages 10 and older, because I do not think anyone younger would be able to understand this book. I thought it was an overall good book to read for myself.

[Robby R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Island by Gary Paulsen is a book about a fifteen year old named Will and his discovery of an island right the the middle of Sucker Lake, which is located in northern Wisconsin. The book starts off with Will receiving the news that he will be moving north because his father has found a new job and Will is very disappointed. When the family arrives, everything in their new house seems to be broken and disgusting, so the next morning Will has had enough and leaves to adventure through his new neighborhood. Eventually, Will finds Sucker Lake and makes his way onto the island. The story goes on from there.
Although there were some enjoyable parts of this book, I would not recommend it. To begin, the story starts off and is enjoyable. It sucks you in, but it just went downhill from there. There were points of the story that were so boring that I struggled to continue reading because I was on the verge of falling asleep! In the end, I would only recommend this book to people who like a nice, peaceful story about nature and self discovery, but even that might be a stretch.

[Adam]

Personal response
The Island is similar to the last book I read. It is similar to Brian's Return because it is about the outdoors. There is some difference with Wil being from the city and is just learning about the outdoors, as Brian is familiar with the outdoors. I think comparing The Island to Brian’s Return made it a lot easier to read.
Plot summary
Wil was a young boy who was 14 years old. He was living in Madison when his father had a business opportunity in the north. Wil wasn't too happy about it but saw an opportunity for a fresh start. When they got to their new home, Wil’s parents were always arguing about fixes at home. Wil wanted to get away so he rode his bike often. He then came across a lake that caught his attention. He saw an island on that lake. He took a boat that was left on shore and rowed out to the island. He loved the island. He spent a lot of his time on it. He got permission from his parents to stay on the island for a few nights. He did not want to leave after two nights. He told his new friend, Rachel, to let his parents know he was staying on the island longer. Rachel also had agreed to bring Wil supplies so he could eat everyday. Soon his parents were getting worried about him being on the island. Every time his parents asked him why he wanted to stay on the island, he said he wanted to know who he is and learn more about nature. His parents were not buying his story, so they called a therapist to go to the island and talk to him. The therapist reported to Wil’s parents and said there was nothing wrong with him. Wil’s father started to watch Wil from shore where he thought he was hidden. Wil knew someone was there, but it wasn't until a news reporter let him use the zoom on his camera to look on shore and see it was his father watching him.
Characterization.
Wil is a good example for young people. He shows that he will do whatever it takes to find who he is and his purpose for life. He has a lot of dedication. He also shows kindness to anyone around him. It is easy for me to relate to him because he is close to my age.
Wils father is a great role model too. He showed that he cares for his children and wants the best for him, even though he had not realized that until later on. He wanted Wil off the island because he thought it was messing with his mind.
Setting
The setting started as Wil living in Madison with his family. His father gets a job opportunity so they move farther north. Wil spends most of his time on the island. It's important because he is there to learn more about the island and himself. The story takes place present day, as the reporters come to the island had present day cameras.
Recommendation
I recommend this book to anyone in high school. Girls would like this book because it shows examples of friendship. It also has good points of how anyone can find themselves as a person and has good advice for people looking for a path in their futures. It can be an interest for both boys and girls.

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember the details of this one much, just that I read it in middle school (or very early high school) and enjoyed it. I really connected at the time with the main character--I wasn't quite as solitary as Wil, but I was an introverted teenager, so it felt like we had a lot in common.

[Noah Rucks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal Response:
I read The Island by Gary Paulsen. I really liked the book, because it was relatable to me. It was relatable to me, because I also like to spend time outdoors. I also liked how it kept me wanting to read the book.

Plot:
Wil was a 15 year old boy who moved from his home in Madison, Wisconsin up to Pembine, Wisconsin. Wil was just starting his sophomore year in high school in a one room schoolhouse. Wil had very short notice about moving. When Wil arrived, he rode his bike around and saw an island for the first time in his life. As the time went on, he kept staying on the island for longer periods of time to learn. On the island, he was learning about himself and others animals around him. He also met a 15 year old girl, Susan, right away when he got to Pembine, and she showed him around town. When Wil went to the island one day, Susan found his bike stashed in the bushes, and she decided to investigate what he was doing. She saw him on the island and wondered what he was doing.

Characterization:
Wil was a 15 year old boy. Wil kept to himself and was very shy with new people. He met a girl named Susan in the new town. They became very close while she showed Wil around the town. Susan was the same age as Wil but the complete opposite of him. Susan was a person who wasn’t afraid to introduce herself to anyone.

Setting:
The book took place in Wisconsin around 1990’s. The book started out in Madison, Wisconsin, and then ended in the small town of Pembine, Wisconsin. Pembine was a very small town everyone knew everyone there. This was important because if this was in a different town, it might not have had a small island. The time period was important because if it was today, he would only want to be on his phone and not enjoy what nature has provided.

Thematic Connection:
The main theme of the book would be Wil wanted to stay at the island and his parents want him to stay at home. His parents were afraid that what Wil was doing out on the island because they didn't want him to do illegal things.

Recommendation:
I recommend this book to middle schoolers because of the life situations that took place in the book. I recommend this book to guys and girls because of Wil being involved in the book and also Susan in the book.

[Carley Brunner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character in the book is Wil Neuton. He is 14 years old and is from Madison Wisconsin. Wil isn’t your average teenager. Wil is a shy, friendly kid. He doesn’t like to be very open, he keeps things inside. Wil meets a girl named Susan and became friends. Susan is the same age as Wil. She is the opposite of Wil. Susan is the person who isn’t afraid to say hi to someone that she never has met. Susan doesn’t like to keep things inside she is like an open book. Wil’s parents are not heard from much in this book, but his parents are not in the book that much. Wil’s parents are alike though, they are not that strict with Wil, but they do get mad pretty easily. They are very loving and caring to Wil. The characters all change at the end of the book.
In the book Wil and his parents move to a new little city in Wisconsin. Wil doesn’t know anyone there. They are in a very small area where everyone knows everyone. Wil soon meets a girl named Susan. Susan takes Wil around town to meet people. Wil didn’t tell anyone but he found a little island in the middle of a lake. There was an abandoned oat that no one has touched in a long time. Wil later takes Susan there while riding bikes one day. Susan was amazed by this beautiful place. Wil and Susan start to hang out a lot more and soon Wil decided to go every day for the whole day. Wil and Susan love going there. One day Wil decided that it’s the right thing to do, which was to stay on the island ad sleep there for a few nights. Susan doesn’t stay, but Wil does. Wil stays there and what he does is studies all the things there. He paints the animals and writes about their characteristics and how they react to things. Wil likes to get away from things and stay in silence and do what he enjoys. Susan later stops talking to Wil because she didn’t want anything to happen between them. Wil stays there for about a week and his parents try to get him to come home, but he cannot leave until he is done. He means until he fully understands the island. Since the area is so small camera crew come to the island and tape Wil and ask him so many questions about why he is out there, what he does, etc. Wil becomes famous in his area. Wil’s parents finally understand and let him stay. His parents realize what he does and let him be who he is.
The age group would be good for young adult. The book fiction, and this would be good for young adult because a lot of teenagers could relate to how he acts/feels. I really enjoyed this book because Wil and I are a lot alike in how we get away from everything going on in the work. We both like to go somewhere quiet and do something we enjoy. This book is really intresting, but doesn't keep you on the edge of seat with everything that is going on. As I said earlier that the characters change, Wil opens up a lot more is not shy anymore. Susan changes a lot, she kind of does not want anything to do with Wil, and she never comes back into the book. Wil’s parents let Wil do what he thinks is right and give him more freedom with the Island.

[Austin Baehnman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book “The Island” by Gary Paulsen is a tale about a 15 year old boy who has to move from his home in Madison, Wisconsin up to Pembine, Wisconsin. I think the move would be hard on anyone let alone a 15 year old who is starting his sophomore year in high school. Plus on such short notice, it could also be hard on the family itself. It could raise a lot of tensions between family members. Overall, I really liked the book, because it is by one of my favorite authors, and it takes place in Wisconsin. Another reason why I like this book so much is because I can relate with the 15 year old instead of the 30 year old.

The events that take place in the book are rather low key. For instance, when Wil saw the island for the first time he was astounded, just like anyone would have been. As the time went on he kept staying out on the island for longer periods of time to learn about himself, and others around him. He met Susan almost right away when he got to Pembine, and she showed him around town. When Wil went to the island without Susan one day she found his bike stashed in the bushes, and decided to see what was going on. She saw him on the island and wanted to come out by him. After about a month of hanging out with him she finally said that she could not be around him anymore. She knew that if she kept hanging out with him something was going to turn out very wrong.

The main characters of the book are Wil Neuton and Susan. Wil is a tall 15 year old boy who moves from Madison to Pembine because of his father’s job. It is the start of the summer when he gets there. He does not know anyone so he decides to take a bike ride, and that is when he found the island. Susan comes into the story right after Wil came home from that first bike ride. She introduced herself to Wil and then had to go home to eat, so Wil really did not get much time to talk to her. After a while, she started to get feelings for Wil. She did not want to get hurt so they ended up not hanging out anymore.

The story line takes place in Wisconsin around 1990. The book starts out in Madison, Wisconsin, and then ends in Pembine, Wisconsin. The main character changed a lot when it came to the story line. He is used to the hustle and bustle of the big city, then he moves to a little town and does not know what to think. Wil always thinks that he has to lock up his bike. When in all reality he does not have to, because everyone knows everyone.

I would recommend this book to anyone in 6th to 12th grade, because it is an easy to read book and it is also very good.

[Austin Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading “The Island” by Gary Paulsen. I thought it was a pretty good book. “The Island” is about a fifhteen year old boy named Wil Neuton. In this story Wil and his family live in Madison, Wisconsin. His dad works for the state highway department. Right at the beginning of the book Wil’s father announces to his family that the department would like for him and his family to move up to Pinewood, Wisconsin, which is way up north. After discussing it, in a matter of a few days they pack up everything and head up north. When they get there, they run into a few issues like things going wrong with their house and the creepy handyman coming over to fix things and spitting chew all over the place which grosses his mother out.
The one thing Wil liked about moving up North is that he would have more area to ride his bike in. He is really big into riding his bike. One day on his ride he ends up finding an island in the middle of a lake close by his house. It seems very interesting to him and he wants to learn more about it. On his way back home. He runs into a girl that lives nearby named Susan. They end up becoming really good friends. Throughout the book Wil ends up going to the island more and more. He ends up living on the island for a very long period of time. Word gets around the town and reporters and T.V stations start coming to interview him. His parents are very concerned about him.
The main character of the book is a fifthteen year old boy named Wil Neuton. He is a very tall and awkward guy. Wil really enjoys riding his bike and learning. Another important character would be Susan. She ends up being Wil’s best friend. In the book Wil says she’s very pretty. She is from a small town.
In this book it doesn’t say when it took place. The setting doesn’t impact the setting at all. This could have happened in any time or anywhere.
I would give this book a 4- star rating. It was a pretty good book. I like the story a lot and I liked how he figured out new things on the island. I would recommend this book to high school students. If you enjoyed reading the book “Hatchet,” I would recommend reading this book. If you’re in need of a goodread and you need a book that isn’t boring, I would read this book.

[Regino Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved "The Island" it was a great book that changed the way I think now. I now go to a place I'm comfortable in and think. I loved the way they had a love interest halfway through the book. It was also nice how disruptive it was almost pertaining an image in my mind.

The plot of "The Island" is about a 16-year-old kid named Wil Newton who basically wants to live out on an island that he found. He just wants to get away from everything, and the island helps him get his mind off everything. He and his parents lived in Madison, Wisconsin, until his dad had an opportunity to move up to northern Wisconsin, away from everything in the middle of nowhere. When he got there, it was hectic. A man by the name of Emil Aucht got stuck. He asked Wil to help him get unstuck, Wil helped but then Emil pushed the pedal down and got Wil all muddy. Wil later met a girl named Susan who was a real country girl. Wil was shy at first, but later realised why he was shy. He then went to the island and practically lived there for three days. His parent then arrived at the island asking him why he was doing this. Wil responded with nothing. His parents then let him stay for a while. A psychologist later arrived at the island. After that a news team arrived. He later realized that being “the kid on the island” was way too much and left to rejoin his family.

Wil is a tall and muscular kid who has problems talking to girls. He is very shy and really wants to find true love. Susan is a stereotypical country girl without a care in the world, always talking but tough. Emil Aucht is a crazy man who is the local handy man. Wil's parents are your average parents, but always seem to forget to hear Wil out.

The time of this book seems to be around the year 2000. The place is in a small town called Pinewood, in the northern part of Wisconsin on an island in the middle of Sucker Lake.

The theme of this book is for those who feel ignored by their parents to find a place they are comfortable in.

I recommend this book for kids of all ages boys and girls that feel like their lives are cluttered and need to get away.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed "The Island" by Gary Paulsen, because it deals with the outdoors and nature. In this book the author shows that even the best of families have their problems. It shows you that sometimes teenagers need to learn on thier own and not have their hand held throughout life. It is a good example of a teenager that lives a normal life without any problems. They just want to break out of their shell and learn on their own. In other words they need to fend for themselves.

The story is told through the first person point of view Wil. Wil moves to a small town in northern Wisconsin. The whole family has to move because Wil's dad was offered a different job. Wil likes to ride his bike around all the time, so one day he finds this island just down the road from his house. He decides to paddle out and check the island out. He continues to go and visit the island for several days and finally decides to move out there. Then his parents think that he is crazy for wanting to stay on the island and try to force him to leave and come home.

The book takes place in fairly recent times and in a small town in northern Wisconsin. Most of it is on the island. He describes the island as a peaceful place that he finds very interesting. Wil is drawn to the island and he has no idea why.

The message of this book is that things are not always as they appear. Sometimes things look perfect but underneath they are not. Wil thought his life was great in the big city until he moves out to the country. He finds that country life and being alone is peaceful.

I would recommend this book to fifth grade and beyond because it is fairly simple to understand. Wil is a very relatable person. Both girls and boys would enjoy this book if they like the outdoors.

[Logan Erdmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was just okay. I became bored with it rather easily but it did have a few interesting points. I liked how Wil had to make a change from the city life to living in the country. He was use to hearing traffic every morning. He now hears the sound of birds chirping out his window. He has to deal with only shopping at one store and having to deal with more limited options.

The main characters of the book are Wil Nueton, Wil’s parents, Susan, and Ray Bunner. Wil is a 15 year old city boy that moved with his parents to the country. They made the move because Wils’s dad accepted a new job in the area. Susan is a 15 year old girl that is rather fond of Wil. Ray Bunner is considered a bully and is a few years older than Wil.

The book starts off in Madison, Wisconsin and then goes to northern Wisconsin. The time period is the early 2000’s.
The theme that I found was the idea of being self-absorbed. Wil is instantly drawn to this island where he is by himself. He starts to wonder if he should just stay there and never go home. He is constantly keeping away from everyone he knows. Wil is in love with nature but he has gone too far.

I would recommend this book to high school students interested in the outdoors and social isolation.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know that many of my friends didn't like this one, feeling that it felt fake and was boring since nothing happened. On the other hand, I really enjoyed it. I felt that the way that Wil tunes in to nature was actually really beautiful and reminiscent of the nature writing workshop by Otterbein University that I went to at Cuyahoga State Park this summer. I also read it metaphorically, having just read about psychoanalytic criticism. I found the symbolic journey that Wil undergoes fascinating as well as his search for some sort of knowledge and connection that he will never be able to find or wholly achieve. I love the idea of taking time to look and find and think and I know, from my own personal experience that this is possible. This book is beautiful and I would certainly recommend it to someone who will read it patiently and inquisitively. It does not holdup well against more recent novels- it lacks action and plot and super powers and examines the world through a much calmer metaphor.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really shows how someone can change in a short period of time. In the book The Island, a boy named Wil is forced to move from the city to a small town and he's not too crazy about it at first. Later on though, he meets a girl named Susan,, gets settled into his house, and soon finds an island in a lake near his house! He absolutely loves this island and starts spending more and more time there. Later he begins spending nights there and not coming home. If you want to find out what happens to Wil, read this book! This story was really descriptive about everything that Wil saw on the island so if you like description, you should definitely read this. I really liked the part of the book when Wil was trying to move like a heron that he saw on the island. It showed him starting to like his new setting.

[Lisa Rathbun]

This book could be a little slow, yet it kept my interest, a quiet book that really makes you imagine you are on the island, seeing and experiencing the things Wil does. I especially liked the chapter about his grandmother.



I'm still not sure why the turtle was wrong. It's natural - part of nature. And why was the bully OK, but his response to the bully wrong? Was it that he practically blacked out in his rage? He was wrong, but the bully was wrong too. I just didn't get that part - the heron was OK, but not the turtle?



It did make me wish I looked at things more closely. Could I describe my mother, my children, the way Wil could picture his grandmother? I don't think I pay enough close attention to things - maybe because I'm always reading! :)



(Minor L, N)

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child. Rereading it today was like looking through a photo album - I could see the traces of ideas that made me the woman I am today. But this wasn't like "Dracula," which simply inspired me to start journals of my own. "The Island" impressed more lofty and ideological ideals on me. For example: the value of being alone and self-reliant (okay, I knew that before I read this); the importance of learning and growing in knowledge; an obsession with capturing who people really are. Even my (now subsided) fear of psychologists is reflected here! "The Island" remains a good read for teens, but it holds special significance for me now that I can see the impression it has had on my life.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been going back and re-reading books from my childhood/teen years that I loved, just to rediscover why I loved them and if I still loved them. It started with Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King earlier this year, and I wanted to squeeze in one more before 2026.

I remember reading this book at least 2 or 3 times growing up, and now I'm convinced that it informed my love of nature, my desire to create, and my need for solitude. I can say that, while not perfect, I still very much love this book. It still speaks to me all these years later.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teen/young adult trying to find himself story. It's a juvenile version of Krakauer's Into the Wild (without the tragic ending)in that Wil is searching for something inside himself. Like Thoreau, he uses nature to discover the meaning of life. It's esoteric, but concrete enough for struggling readers to enjoy.

[Lucid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was THE most influential and formative book I read as a kid. I identified with the protagonist, Will, an introspective and sensitive boy who discovers the multifarious pleasures of solitude and nature on a small island in Wisconsin. I haven't read it in years, but I'm sure that going back to it now, this story would still resonate with me.