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    The Car
    The Car
    The Car
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Car

    Written by Gary Paulsen

    Narrated by Luke Daniels

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Fourteen-year-old Terry has parents who never paid him much attention. So when they both disappear after one of their all-too-frequent arguments, Terry isn’t exactly eager for them to come home. On his own, he occupies himself by assembling a car kit that’s been collecting dust in the garage for years. When the car is finished, Terry is pleased to discover it actually runs. Though he doesn’t know much about driving, he gets behind the wheel and heads west, with the notion of visiting an uncle in Oregon.

    But Terry’s plan takes a detour when he meets Shakespeare-quoting wanderer Waylon Jackson. The aging Vietnam vet has seen and done extraordinary things, and he is still hungry to learn more. With Waylon as his copilot, Terry ends up in locales as varied as a religious commune, a poker game in Deadwood, and Custer’s Last Stand. It’s an exciting and sometimes dangerous journey. Along the way, he learns a lot about people, about America — and ultimately, about himself.

    “Besides evoking a type of independence and tough-mindedness that will appeal to teens, this provocative novel introduces and explores some interesting philosophies of life while stressing the value of learning from experience.”
    —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 20, 2012
    ISBN9781455810703
    Author

    Gary Paulsen

    <P>GARY PAULSEN (1939 - 2021) wrote nearly two hundred books for young people, including the Newbery Honor Books<em> Hatchet, Dogsong,</em> and <em>The Winter Room. </em></P>

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    Reviews for The Car

    4/5

    44 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It was a great book and me think about my life and what i want to do with it. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to read a fun and entertaining book.
    • 3/5
      I got this book from my mom, who was cleaning out her books. This was a very quick read and ended up being okay. I think it would appeal most to middle grade/YA boys.This is about a 14 year old boy who parents leave him. He ends up building a car from a car kit and decides to head West on an adventure. On the way he meets some old vets and they end up showing him some old time sites that drive home what it means to be an American.Overall it was a well written story and was easy to read. It ends right in the middle of things and didn't have much resolution. Still it was decent and I think middle grade to YA boys would probably enjoy it.
    • 3/5
      i was not a big fan of the book!!!
    • 4/5
      A teenager, left on his own, travels west in a kit car he built himself, and along the way picks up two Vietnam veterans, who take him on an eye-opening journey.
    • 4/5
      The Car by Gary Paulsen is an adventure filled with new experiences, new people and new places. Terry Anders, 14, lives in Cleveland, Ohio as part of a dysfunctional family. His parents constantly bicker and rarely pay attention to Terry or his activities. Unbeknownst to either parent, they both simutaneously and unexpectly move out, leaving Terry to virtually fend for himself. Terry is somewhat relieved and is inwardly happy that the fighting has stopped. As days pass by, Terry is intrigued with a kit car, a Blakely Bearcat, that is partly assembled in the garage. He decides to complete the project. Terry is so immersed in the car, that he is oblivious to the time of day, hours spent, or his need for nourishment. He is on a mission...that is to finish building the kit car, also known as 'THE CAT'. Realizing that he is now on his own, Terry decides to head out west, to visit an uncle in Oregon... an uncle he has only met once in his life. In the middle of the night, so as not to disturb neighbors or alert police, he practices driving the kit car until he becomes proficient. A few days later, with expired license plates and invalid driver's license, but armed only with the $1300 he saved from his lawn service job, he sets out towards Oregon. Along the way, he meets Waylon Jackson, a world-weary, intelligent, soft-spoken Vietman veteran, who is traveling the country in search of all forms of knowledge. Evenutally, they meet up with Waylon's friend, Wayne his tour-of-duty partner in Vietnam. The trio travels to The Badlands, Deadwood, Custer's Last Stand and a religious commune among other fascinating sites. Sometimes joyous, sometimes frightening, the journey is not without excitement or danger. In the end, Terry learns much more than history or geography, but what makes a decent human being, what makes one truly happy, and what loyalty among friends really means.
    • 5/5
      Great easy read. Never gets boring i love how Gary paulsen writes this story in such a way. Can never put it down