78 pages 2 hours read

Gary Paulsen

Harris and Me

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2007

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“Home became, finally, something of an impossibility for me and I would go to stay with relatives for extended periods of time.” 


(Chapter 1, Page 5)

At the opening of the novel, the protagonist is displaced and has no true home. The protagonist’s journey through the novel centers around his inner conflict with feeling at home and belonging, and the process of being accepted as one of the family. His initial disposition of nervousness and hesitation towards the thought of staying with the Larsons is a stark contrast from how he feels by the novel’s conclusion.

Quotation Mark Icon

“They lived on a farm forty miles north of the town I lived in, yet it might as well have been on a different planet. The ride took about an hour and a half, but it went through such varied terrain that before we had gone five miles I was in despair. For two or three of those miles the car moved past farm country that still seemed rather settled. Frequently there were tractors working in the fields and people who waved cheerfully, walking down the sides of the road. But soon the trees closed in, closer and thicker until they were a wall on either side and the road and car were enveloped in a curtain of green darkness. And there were no more open fields or driveways, just dirt tracks that disappeared into the forest and brush. It was like going off the edge of the earth on those old maps used by early explorers, into places where it said: There Be Monsters Here.” 


(Chapter 1, Page 5)

Paulsen describes scenes in the novel with detail and vivid visual imagery. As the protagonist is approaching the Larson’s farm for the first time, he observes the ever-thickening forest around him. This luscious language is consistent throughout the work, as the protagonist seems to have a very visual memory, and much of the scenery he paints for the reader is reflective of this. Recalling memories in this fashion brings the reader right into the moment, making it more real and personal. The protagonist’s description concerning monsters suggests his apprehension at leaving the more populated town and entering the isolated country. 

Related Titles

By Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Brian's Hunt

Gary Paulsen

Brian's Hunt (Brian's Saga, #5)

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Brian's Return

Gary Paulsen

Brian's Return (Brian's Saga, #4)

Gary Paulsen

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Brian's Winter

Gary Paulsen

Brian's Winter (Brian's Saga, #3)

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Canyons

Gary Paulsen

Canyons

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Dogsong

Gary Paulsen

Dogsong

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Guts

Gary Paulsen

Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books

Gary Paulsen

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Hatchet

Gary Paulsen

Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1)

Gary Paulsen

Plot Summary
logo

How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports

Gary Paulsen

How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Lawn Boy

Gary Paulsen

Lawn Boy

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception

Gary Paulsen

Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception (Liar, Liar, #1)

Gary Paulsen

Plot Summary
logo

Masters of Disaster

Gary Paulsen

Masters of Disaster

Gary Paulsen

Plot Summary
logo

My Life in Dog Years

Gary Paulsen

My Life in Dog Years

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Nightjohn

Gary Paulsen

Nightjohn (Sarny)

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Northwind

Gary Paulsen

Northwind

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

Gary Paulsen

Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

The Crossing

Gary Paulsen

The Crossing

Gary Paulsen

Plot Summary
logo

The Monument

Gary Paulsen

The Monument

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

The River

Gary Paulsen

The River (Brian's Saga, #2)

Gary Paulsen

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

The Transall Saga

Gary Paulsen

The Transall Saga

Gary Paulsen

Study Guide
logo

The Voyage of the Frog

Gary Paulsen

The Voyage of the Frog

Gary Paulsen