Children's fiction

The Haymeadow

by Gary Paulsen

208 pages · First published 1992

Fourteen-year-old John Barron is left responsible for thousands of sheep when his father sends him alone to the family’s remote haymeadow for the summer. The work initially seems like an opportunity to prove himself, but isolation, weather, predators, and the needs of the flock quickly turn independence into relentless responsibility. John must solve problems without immediate adult rescue and decide what kind of endurance the job actually requires. Gary Paulsen’s coming-of-age novel offers a spare, outdoors-centered story about work, loneliness, and a boy discovering that competence is earned one difficult day at a time.