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How Angel Peterson Got His Name
by Gary Paulson

The author describes how he and his friends tried to shoot a waterfall in a barrel, break the world record for speed on skis, hang glide with an Army surplus parachute, and perform other daredevil stunts. In one chapter, a friend borrowed a quarter to wrestle a bear at the carnival to get the attention of a girl, only to be swept out of the ring by a giant paw, like “a hockey puck with legs.” The action takes place 50 or so years ago, this group of adventures can be quite funny. Although the book doesn’t explain why boys like to do crazy things, it does give an insight into how the minds of teenagers who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s worked. The author shows boys moving into adolescence believing they can do anything: wrestle with bears; shoot waterfalls in a barrel; fly eight-by-twelve-foot Army surplus kites–and hang on, even as they land in the chicken coop.