Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!!!
Review:
This is a story about an 11-year-old boy, son of an alcoholic too ill to care for him, who is sent off by social services to some cousins he has never met, to spend one summer in the late 1940's. He meets a cousin close to his own age, who drags him into every kind of trouble imaginable. We experience severe "culture shock" along with the main character, a city boy, who is thrown into a situation far out his depth. He manages to survive a number of harrowing incidents, become pretty comptetent, and later, even looks back fondly on his summer at the farm.

This book was well-written, but did not appeal to me personally as much as Paulsen's other books. It was NOT a page-turner, as his other books are. It is a slow-paced experience of what boys can think up to do for "kicks" when there is no TV, radio, computer, or other type of modern diversion. I have no doubt Paulsen is writing out of personal experience, and really knows what he is talking about. I never would have thought of any of these diversions in a million years. I am a teacher, and I would only recommend this novel to boys and girls who don't mind very slow-paced realistic stories, and who are particularly interested in old-fashioned farm life, or old-fashioned rural life.

If you are not familiar with this author, I highly recommend you read some of his other books, most of which are REAL page turners, generally about boys coming of age, and finding competence in themselves, no matter where the setting.

Rating:
Summary: A Touching Story
Review: HARRIS AND ME, by Gary Paulsen, is a heartwarming hilarious book about a boy who goes to live with his cousins Harris and Glennis, and their parents. The narrator learns to love his life om the farm. Harris is a bad-mouthed boy who swears but can never get away with it while Glennis is around.The two boys go on imaginative and funny journeys, such as the time when they rode Bob and Bill. Bob and Bill are very large horses that look like oversized buffalo. It's not every day that you get to ride a horse and shoot off your father's gun. This is imaginative because usually you could never play with guns, and this story is almost a little unreal.The reason the boys shot off the guns was because they were trying to immitate the old film they watched in town while drinking pop. As they try many tricks throughout the book they get in trouble along the way too, that almost always end up with a good laugh.Gary Paulsen just keeps you going with the giggles.I would recommend this book if you like funny stories.

Rating:
Summary: Plain fun(ny)
Review: I grew up in a suburban area, but remember countless hours spent outside, laughing and breathless, playing with friends. "Harris and Me" recalls some of the energy and hijinks of childhood, arousing quite a few laughs and some nostalgia.

The story is set on a farm during the 1950s. The unnamed narrator, possibly Paulsen himself, spends a glorious summer with relatives -- his uncle Knute, Aunt Clair, and cousins Glennis and Harris. Harris becomes the narrator's constant companion and partner in crime, through hours of intense farm labor, enormous and frequent meals, and non stop high energy play.

Some of the boys' pranks are a bit too slap-stick for my tastes, such as an incident involving urinating on an electric fence. And some characters, such as the dirty, mute farmhand who seems to inhale pancakes, are little more than cartoons.

What I remember most about the book, though, are its many funny moments -- Harris believing that a movie (which he has seen several times, no less) is really happening...ambushing the pigs...attaching a motor to a bike and zooming down the road. "Harris and Me" captures the long, carefree days of childhood with joy and zest.

Rating:
Summary: What Harris' farm life is really like
Review: I recommend the book Harris and me because,it seems to be a very good book the characters seem to be fairly funny like when Harris and the narrator swung from the hay loft and flogged by Ernie then landing in the pig pen. And when Harris and the narrator took the motor off the washing machine and put it on the bike and started the bike by pushing it. Then the bike drove down the driveway going faster and faster theninto a pile of brushripping off Harris's overalls I found that kind of funny.

Rating:
Summary: The Summer Of Your Life
Review: If you like a book that has fun adventures lots of laughter and exciting stories, than you should read Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen. While you read you can get a great picture of what is going on in the story and get to know the characters. As you read you see the story through the boys eyes, he lets you see what really happened and how he felt, while things were going on at the farm.
Harris and Me is about a 13-year-old boy who was having trouble at his home so he goes to live with his relatives on a farm. When the boy got there, he had no idea what kind of a summer he would be getting himself into. The boy's cousin, Harris, likes doing crazy things. One thing he did was try to land on a horse's back by jumping off the loft. Harris is always getting into trouble, every day. His sister Glennis is always hitting him for doing something wrong. While the boy is there, he learns who he really is. He didn't just find a home, but he also found a friend.
I would rate this book a four because it has detail and exciting things happen to the characters. I wouldn't rate it a five because it does have some boring parts for a little while but after it gets really good. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to have fun while reading a book and laughing aloud.

Rating:
Summary: The Summer Of Your Life
Review: It started with a giggle at the end of the first five pages and, by the end of Gary Paulsen's first day on the farm with his cousin Harris, I had been thrown out of silent reading for laughing so hard. Don't let me waste anymore of your reading time extolling the virtues of this book--just trust me, it is one hysterical adventure after another. You don't have to like the farm life to relate to the action of this story, you only have to remember what the world was like when you were young and everywhere you went was an adventure just waiting.
As a reading teacher of seventh graders, I have read "Harris and Me" to the most "hardened" of audiences and, without fail, Harris and Gary reduce them to giggling chaos. They even forget to be "cool" and ask for more at the end of the chapter--a true testament to a great book. From grownups to the "think they are grown," this book is a slam dunk...just don't try to read it during silent reading!