• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 9
• Reading age: 9 to 12

A dramatic turn of events unites twelve-year-old Billy Gavin and seventeen-year-old John "Bearman" Redell, two boys from seemingly different backgrounds who discover that they in fact have a great deal in common - they are both runaways. Together, alone against nature in the rugged Alberta wilderness, they begin to deal with the demons of their pasts. When the news of a downed plane and a missing rodeo cowboy in the woods and mountains nearby reaches them, Bearman, an expert tracker who knows the woods like the back of his hand, becomes obsessed with the thought of finding the lost man. The boys find themselves faced with the greatest challenge of their lives. Do they have the courage to find the missing man? More importantly, will this adventure give them the self-confidence they need both to outrun the past and to embrace the future?

David A. Poulsen has been a broadcaster, teacher, professional cowboy, football coach, stage and film actor and—most of all—writer. His writing career began in earnest when his story The Welcomin’ won the 1984 Alberta Culture Short Story Competition. Now the author of 27 books, many for middle readers and young adults, David spends 60 to 80 days a year in classrooms and libraries across Canada (and beyond) as a visiting author/presenter. The UBC Creative Writing alumnus and former Writer in Residence at the Saskatoon Public Library recently made his inaugural foray into the world of adult crime fiction with Serpents Rising, the best-selling first book in the Cullen and Cobb Mystery series. There are now four titles in the series and the fourth—None So Deadly—hit bookstores in the spring of 2019. The Man Called Teacher, coming in 2019, is his first adult western. David lives on a small ranch in Alberta’s foothills where he and his wife Barb raise and train running-bred quarter horses for barrel racing competitions.

David A. Poulsen's profile page

Billy and the Bearman