This summer 14-year-old John is going to spend his days tending the sheep up in the hills. He'll be all alone trying to handle the challenges that come. Does he have what it takes to solve these problems? Does he have the courage, the strength, the resourcefulness? Can he rely on himself? A bit like Paulsen's Hatchet and great for the guys who like to explore what it's like to be the "man."
208 pages 978-0440409236 Ages 10-14
Keywords: adventure, finding yourself, ranching, animals, self reliance, grit, courage, problem solving, determination, overcoming adversity, summer
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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Fourteen-year-old John Barron is asked, like his father and grandfather before him, to spend the summer taking care of their sheep in the haymeadow. Six thousand sheep. John will be alone, except for two horses, four dogs, and all those sheep.
John doesn't feel up to the task, but he hopes that if he can accomplish it, he will finally please his father. But John finds that the adage "things just to sheep" is true when the river floods, coyotes attack, and one dog's feet get cut. Through it all he must rely on his own resourcefulness, ingenuity, and talents to survive this summer in the haymeadow.---from the publisher
