How to Train Your Dad

From the legendary author of Hatchet, a laugh-out-loud misadventure about a boy, his free-thinking dad, and the puppy-training pamphlet that turns their summer upside down.

Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his father's single-minded pursuit of an off-the-grid existence. His dad may be brilliant, but dumpster-diving for food, scouring through trash for salvageable junk, and wearing clothes fully sourced from garage sales is getting old. Increasingly worried about what schoolmates and a certain girl at his new school might think of his circumstances--and encouraged by his off-kilter best friend--Carl adopts the principles set forth in a randomly discovered puppy-training pamphlet to "retrain" his dad's mindset . . . a crackpot experiment that produces some very unintentional results.

This is a fierce and funny novel about family, green-living, and untangling some of the ties that bind from middle-grade master Gary Paulsen.

Author: Gary Paulsen
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Published: 10/05/2021
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.50w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780374314170
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6.8
Point Value: 5
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 513347 / How to Train Your Dad


Review Citation(s):
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 09/01/2021
Publishers Weekly 08/23/2021
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2021
Booklist 09/15/2021 pg. 51

About the Author
Gary Paulsen is the winner of the ALA Margaret Edwards Award for his contribution to young adult literature, and is a three-time Newbery Honor winner, for Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. His books have sold more than 35 million copies. He lives in New Mexico.