Harris and Me

by Gary Paulsen
Finished October 2010

A co-worker has been telling me about this book for years. It's her husband's favorite book. I like Gary Paulsen's writing and have read some of his other books, but just haven't pick up Harris and Me until now. I should have read this book a long time ago! It's so funny and such a good book.

The "me" of the story is never really named, if I'm remembering correctly. The narrator of the story, he is the eleven-year old child of alcoholic parents. He's been shuffled from relative to relative for extended periods of time and ends up, one summer, at the home of Harris and his family. They are distant relatives and are quite different from anything the narrator has experienced before.

There's Knute Larson, "some kind of second-uncle", his wife Clair, daughter Glennis and son Harris, aged 9. Harris is a wild man. He gives the narrator a real education on life on a farm and leads him into many crazy adventures.

This is such a good book.