How Angel Peterson Got His Name

by Gary Paulsen

Book Overview

WHEN YOU GROW up in a small town in the north woods, you have to make your own excitement. High spirits, idiocy, and showing off for the girls inspire Gary Paulsen and his friends to attempt: -... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385729499
• ISBN13: 9780385729499
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
• Length: 111 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

Richie's Picks: HOW ANGEL PETERSON GOT HIS NAME

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. "Al

Hilarious! What were Paulsen and his friends thinking?? :)

It's the 1950's and Gary Paulsen and his friends are 13 years old. For whatever reasons, they chose this year to be the year of "extreme sports"-Paulsen's term for the outrageous dares they took. These days, extreme sports refers to organized teams and individuals who participate in sport activities that involve rules, certified equipment, and lots of padding and head gear. For Paulsen and his buddies, the equipment was usually purchased at the army surplus store and converted to fit their needs. Their padding and head gear? Didn't exist. They jumped off of things, help onto things, went fast, went high, broke records, turned, twisted, and rolled along all in the name of "What's the worst that can happen?" Just one page into this autobiographical sketch of life at thirteen, the reader can perfectly imagine the northern Minnesota town in which Paulsen grew up and can picture the adventurous, comical moments that made up this crazy year of his life. The dialogue brings to mind so many young adolescent boys, all trying to fit in another ten minutes of fun before their parents call them to dinner. These stories are laugh-aloud fun, and they make the reader want to go out and put some wheels on something!

How Angel Peterson got His Name

The Book How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulson is a fun, and hilarious book to read. If you are looking for a funny book, pick this one. It is for the grade level of 6-8. This story takes place in a small town in Minnesota in the early fifties. They barely had television, mostly radio, and all the kids want to do is have fun. They had fun by doing daredevil stunts. The book is based on Gary Paulson's stories from when he was a 13 year old boy and the crazy things he and his friends did. Throughout the whole book Angel and his 13 year old friends do crazy dare devil stunts. Such as, break the record for the speed on skis, trying to go down a waterfall in a barrel, hang gliding with an army parachute, and trying to wrestle a bear. These boys did anything and everything possible. They also tried to put dynamite in a box, go in it, and have it blow up. Jumping through a ring of fire was another one of their wild stunts. The point of this book is that you can do anything you want as long as you put your mind to it. I recommend this book to anyone that likes to laugh. I also recommend the book to anyone that likes humorous books

Laughs on each page

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.

Paulsen does it again

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. :)