A Week in the Woods

Andrew Clements is a prolific middle-grade author whose first book, Frindle, was published in 1996 and received widespread praise from children, parents, and educators alike. It began Clements’s long career in writing, which continues to this day and has resulted in over 80 children’s and middle-grade books, including The Jacket (2001) and The Friendship War (2019). Most of Clements’s middle-grade titles focus on real-life issues that children of his intended audience experience, such as facing the prospect of middle school, navigating new friendships, and overcoming family issues. A Week in the Woods focuses on these central themes even as it takes the characters out of the tame, everyday world and into the New Hampshire wilderness.

Clements developed his love of both reading and the outdoors from his experiences spending summers at a lake cabin in Maine. Clements was also deeply influenced by both high school teachers and university instructors who encouraged his creative writing and helped to inspire his decision to write stories about teachers and their students.

Throughout the novel, it is clear that Clements was heavily influenced by the works of such writers as Gary Paulsen and Jack London, for their novels make cameo appearances in Mark’s adventures; thus, Clements makes sure to pay homage to the writers who inspired his own novels. Just like Paulsen and London’s protagonists, Clements’s young hero must deal with the icy wilderness, which becomes a key adversary in Mark’s journey to overcome his fears and gain a new sense of independence and confidence; in the process, he also learns to forgive a man who wronged him. The wilderness is described in luscious detail throughout the novel, and Gary Paulsen’s influence is prominent, for his groundbreaking works such as Hatchet and Tracker also feature stories of children finding their inner strength by surviving the rigors of the outdoors on their own. The connection between these works of literature is made explicit when the town librarian asks if Mark has read Hatchet, which he enthusiastically affirms.

Like the children in Gary Paulsen’s stories, Mark intentionally decides to face the wilderness by himself and insists on sleeping in the barn alone, spending his days exploring the land, and hiking up the mountain in the novel’s climax. The survival skills that Mark develops along the way allow him to work on Redefining Manhood in a way that better reflects his own experiences; he also discovers The True Definition of Wealth, which has nothing to do with money. While out in the barn on his own, Mark reads Jack London stories, one of which is particularly pertinent to his situation and the danger he will face on the camping trip. The story, titled “To Build a Fire,” describes a man and his dog battling the bitter cold while knowing that their odds of survival are gravely thin. Upon reading the story, Mark realizes that “the cold […] was stalking the man and the dog, waiting for the man to make a mistake” (70). The cold itself therefore becomes a character in its own right, challenging the man to beat it. The thought of dying that way terrifies Mark, but it also propels him to learn as much about nature and survival tactics as he can.