This tough, thought-provoking novel for young adults takes deadly aim at the oft-quoted notion: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” With subtle mastery and precision, Paulsen’s novel challenges the idea that firearms don’t become instruments of destruction and murder until they are placed in human hands--The Rifle makes it clear that guns do kill people.

Fourteen-year-old Francis is heading west in a wagon train on the Oregon Trail when he’s kidnapped by Pawnees. His adventures during the two-year search for his family teach him how to live by the harsh code of the wilderness, and give readers an exciting panoramic vision of the West at a time of settlement and of war with Mexico. Along the way, Francis meets up with Mr. Grimes, a one-armed mountain man, and later rescues Lottie and Billy, children...