My Life in Dog Years- Non-Fiction- Week 8

Paulsen, G. (1998). My life in dog years. New York, N.Y: Delacorte Press.

Summary:
My Life In Dog Years is a biography of Gary Paulsen's experiences with his pet dogs throughout his life. Each chapter tells a story of a different dog and details of Paulsen's life at the time he was with the dog. One dog, Cookie, saved his life and several dogs helped him get through some pretty hard and lonely times he encountered growing up.

New Terms:
My Life In Dog Years is a partial biography because it doesn't tell about Gary Paulsen's life from birth to death. The story only includes portions of his life that include the dogs in which he tells about. I think this book could also be considered a collected biography if you consider that each chapter is about the life of a different one of Gary Paulsen's dogs.

Curriculum Connection:
This book could be used to help students write their own biographies. The book isn't extremely long and you could discuss with students how Paulsen kept his readers interested throughout the book.

Standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

BIG Question:
How does Paulsen keep his reader interested throughout the book?