A wonderful book exploring death, coming of age, farm life and hunting. This book ranks high in my main three areas plot, characters, and language. A good read for adult or child. ( )

Paulsen invites his readers to take a journey with his main character John as he hunts for answers more than deer in his novel Tracker. John's grandfather, who taught him to hunt, is dieing of cancer and John is trying to find his identity and place in the world before his grandfather passes. During the story John goes hunting for the first time without his grandfather. The goal at the start of the hunt is to put food on the table. But John soon realizes that this hunt is more than killing a deer, It is about reaching out and touching his existance and to put his grandfathers iminite passing into perspective. ( )

John has hunted for the past three years for deer with his beloved grandfather who is now dying of cancer. For them, the killing of the deer was a necessity, not a sport, to provide the meat necessary to sustain the family during winter. Now, John must hunt alone, not only for deer, but to find the acceptance, the needed peace necessary as he awaits his grandfather's imminent death. Melodic in style with Hemingway sentences, the language evokes the sounds and smells of nature. For the careful reader this title with its many layered meanings, its Haiku writing protagonist, its gentleness amidst the harshness of nature, of death, will be a special read. Those looking for a novel of hunting will need to look elsewhere. John's quest, the need to touch the deer--but not kill it, to assuage and conquer death, is poetry.

Cuseo, Alan, "Review of Tracker." Voice of Youth Advocates 7, no. 4 (October 1984): 197-8 ( )

Awful cover but simple easy to read, sad story of John who lives in the Minnesota Woods with his grandparents. Every year he goes hunting with his grandfather for deer, whose meat they rely on to survive the long winter. This year is different, John has to go alone because his grandfather is dying of cancer. He tracks a deer for two days and it helps him clear his thoughts about the imminent death of someone for whom he cares so much.
p.45 –48About deer and hunting and how wolves kill deer.