How Angel Peterson Got His Name (Paperback)

by Gary Paulsen (Author) "He is as old as me and that means he has had a life, has raised children and made a career and succeeded and maybe..." (more)
Key Phrases: target kite, steering wheel knob, parachute cord, Circle of Death, Second World War, Black Hill (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Paulsen accounts for his 13th year "of wonderful madness" when he and his friends tried to shoot a waterfall in a barrel, break the world record for speed on skis, hang glide with an Army surplus parachute, and perform other daredevilish stunts. Readers will be drawn to the term "extreme sports" but the story is more accurately one generation's version of homemade fun in the days following the Korean War when "radio was king" and the great outdoors served as the playground. Like much of his autobiographical fiction, these sketches are more episodic than plot driven. Paulsen exhibits a wry sense of humor and storytelling ability as if he were sitting on a country porch with eager listeners at his knee. In one chapter, a friend borrowed a quarter to wrestle a bear at the carnival to get the attention of a girl, only to be swept out of the ring by a giant paw, like "a hockey puck with legs." The stories are fresh and lively and will especially appeal to reluctant middle-grade readers.
Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Every boy who is 13 or about to be 13 or who remembers being 13 should read this short story collection based on people and events from Paulsen's own life. Even though the action takes place 50 or so years ago, they will recognize themselves. And every girl who has ever liked a 13-year-old-boy, or been related to one, or wondered about one, should read this, too, because although the book doesn't explain why boys like to do things like pee on electric fences, it does give an insight into how their funny little minds work. Writing with humor and sensitivity, Paulsen shows boys moving into adolescence believing they can do anything: wrestle with bears; shoot waterfalls in a barrel; fly eight-by-twelve-foot Army surplus kites--and hang on, even as they land in the chicken coop. None of them dies (amazingly), and even if Paulsen exaggerates the teensiest bit, his tales are side-splittingly funny and more than a little frightening. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (August 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440229359
• ISBN-13: 978-0440229353
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #91,320 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richie's Picks: HOW ANGEL PETERSON GOT HIS NAME, November 30, 2003

By	Richie Partington "http://richiespicks.com" (Sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: How Angel Peterson Got His Name (Hardcover)

I was laughing so hard that I woke up Shari AND both dogs!

A longtime friend of mine, who works as our school's counselor--and who gets to borrow the books that I write about--has occasionally asked me very sweetly whether I could find more funny books for our students. J.T., this one's for you!

"We built countless ramps with old boards laid on barrels or boxes, at the bottom of a hill if possible, and we would try to jump over things with our bikes.

"Remember, these were one-speed fat-tired bikes with a crowned-up, castrating brace bar and the things we tried to jump were fences, wooden walls, barrels, bikes, each other. On one memorable occasion Alan--after carefully calculating distances and angles--tried to jump his stepfather's Ford coupe end to end. He didn't...quite...make it and left a face print on the windshield of the car, but that might have been because he was distracted by the scream when his mother came out just as we finished the ramp and Alan made his jump..."

Now, I can remember some of the "really neat stuff" we did when I was young: There was a telephone cable hanging from a wooden utility pole in this vacant lot filled with mounds of dirt left over from digging foundations in he neighborhood. It made for great swinging (à la George of the Jungle) until Jimmy Dean got a concussion by swinging straight into the pole. There was "skitching" --kids in Beatle boots grabbing onto the back bumper of any car that was cruising through the snow-slickened parking lot behind Modell's. I can also recall the thrill of aiming our banana bikes full speed over the edge and down the big drop-off at Sunshine Acres Park. But my sitting here today (in one piece) attests to the fact that I did NOT spend my impressionable years hanging out with Gary Paulsen and his buddies:

"Alan, again after carefully calculating and measuring..., decided that if you got up to twenty-six miles an hour and angled a ramp to ensure (that's how he put it, 'to ensure') that you got at least seven point six feet in the air, it was possible to do a complete backward somersault and land on your wheels upright. Alan, having gotten at least seven feet in the air after a screaming run down Black Hill, landed exactly, perfectly upside down, bicycle wheels straight up, spinning, in a cloud of dust and gravel."

Decorating the cover of HOW ANGEL PETERSON GOT HIS NAME AND OTHER OUTRAGEOUS TALES ABOUT EXTREME SPORTS is an illustration of a young man on snow skis. He is wearing one of those old leather flight helmets (à la Snoopy) and flight goggles, and he is being pulled through the snow behind a sporty automobile that dates back to my father's adolescence. The young man is Angel Peterson who in 1954, inspired by a newsreel proceeding the Saturday matinee, decided he'd break the speed record for skiing despite being a thousand miles from any hills. Such was passion for scientific curiosity (and impressing girls) amid the "Brain Trust" that hung out with the young Gary Paulsen.

"Alan tried once more, getting a lift from an unsuspecting truck by hanging on to the rear corner and hitting the ramp so fast that it gave way and he went through it like a tank, barrels and boards and splinters flying everywhere."

"Wayne completed the only true backward flip off a bicycle but he didn't take the bike with him..."

Of course Shari, ever-the-mom, shakes her head, appalled by what I'm reading her from the book--a sure sign that this book will be absolutely worshiped by young boys. (Shari says that's why I like the book so much.) No, really, it's a book for girls, too. (Rosemary, who can tell you about trying to bounce through the air from the trampoline to the rope hanging from the tree, is going to love this one.) In fact, the only fault that I can find with the book is its size: One hundred and eleven pages is way too brief for so funny a book. Guess I'll just have to read it again...right after I take my government surplus target kite out in the next heavy wind and see if I can...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paulsen does it again, February 15, 2003

By	Elizabeth A. Hughes "wildcat63" (Salem, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: How Angel Peterson Got His Name (Hardcover)

A quick, fun read. Perfect for those reluctant boy readers, as Paulsen shares some of his friends' daredevil escapades of growing up. I laughed out loud when he shared his first date to Harris's (his cousin from Harris and Me) "bungee" jumping.
Full of voice and action. It would be a great read aloud in a middle school classroom...but have your boys sign waivers that they won't try the "sports" at home. :)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughs on each page, April 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: How Angel Peterson Got His Name (Hardcover)

Paulsen has written another book about his youth, similiar to Harris & Me and The Schernoff Discoveries. Paulsen tells about his extreme sports endeavors when he was 13. As he warns the readers in 1954, kids weren't as smart as they are now and there was no safety equipment. The first chapter, which gives the book its title, will have you laughing until you cry. In fact, this is too good for kids. Give this as a gift to that wacky brother who did some wild stunts as a youth. Relunctant boy readers will love this one and it will make a great read aloud. That is if you can keep from laughing.