Many of Paulsen's writings are thinly disguised autobiographical accounts.

Although they may be profitably read as fiction, the following titles are based on personal experience and the central character reflects Paulsen's own feelings about the events: Harris and Me, The Cookcamp, Father Water, Mother Woods, The Madonna Stories, Woodsong, and Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. In the comic novel Harris and Me, he nostalgically remembers the adventure-filled summer he spent on the Larson farm with his distant cousin, Harris. More of Paulsen's boyhood memories are found in The Cookcamp, which praises his loving and understanding grandmother, who helped him deal with the loneliness caused by frequent separations from his parents. Father Water, Mother Woods is a series of essays about Paulsen hunting and fishing in the North woods as a child. Some excerpts from Eastern Sun, Winter Moon and The Cookcamp are found...