The Haymeadow

by Gary Paulsen

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 happen 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.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure, Survival, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Laurie Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this Gary Paulsen classic aloud to my husband and 13 year old son as we wound our way through Wyoming and Montana in our RV this summer. My husband's comment after we finished the book one evening by the campfire was, "I know his target audience is teenage boys, but I can't think of an author I like more." Another great coming of age story by the best outdoor writer of our time!

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Haymeadow / by Gary Paulsen (195 pages)
Summary: 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 taht if he can accomplish it, he will finally please his father. But John finds that the adage "things just happen 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. (back cover)

Gary Paulsen is a master storyteller -- I read everything that I can get a hold of...however, there are things in the books that I skip over and try to ignore. In this case there are few minor cuss words, mentions drinking and chewing tobacco and refers to Playboy magazine once. There is also a vivid passage about a man having been skinned for his transgressions (which is still rattling about in my brain). For all of this I reduced a five star book down to three.

I love the character of John and his struggle to find his place on the ranch that should have belonged to his family but doesn't. However, he will find out the truth about that and his grandfather which he so admires and it just might change his viewpoint about the sheep ranch and his plans of what to do with his life. In the meantime, John must find the courage to stay the entire summer days from any civilization high in the haymeadow of the mountains and attend 6,000 sheep by himself with little training and only two horses and four sheep dogs for help. The first part of the book is the introduction of characters, the Barron family and getting the sheep to the haymeadow. The action starts with John's first night and continues non-stop for a few days. The last chapters tell of a changed boy into a young man and his changing relationship to his father.

The illustrations by Ruth Wright Paulsen add much to the story.

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not actually listening to this, but this is the only edition that has the right cover image for the edition I'm reading. I first heard of the author while listening to NPR(I think) recently. I went to my bookshelves to see if I'd rescued/adopted any of his books and sure enough there were several to choose from. Mr. Paulsen writes boy-oriented Y/A stuff and is well though of. So far this reminds me of the very first "real" book I ever read: "Winter Danger"(look-up-able in Goodreads BTW) as it too was the story of a young lad on his own facing the wilderness and possibly unfriendly Indians. Fascinating, but challenging to my fifth-grade brain. Pretty good(and serious) so far.

So … after a benign beginning and middle, during which John, Cowley and the four dogs get the sheep up to the title location, Cowley leaves the 14-yar old John to his wits and then … holy hell cuts loose: rattlesnake, skunk, injured dog, sheep stampede, flash flood and coyotes Yep! all in the space of the first day or two. I assume the author did this to get things moving toward his favorite topic(so I've read) of survival. Also, this IS a Y/A book and as such needs to be eventful to maintain teenager interest. Still … as literature it's rather troubling.

I'm almost finished now. The author has just tossed in one more trauma for the kid. A bear attack! SHEESH! The kid survives(It was "only" a black bear, not a Grizzly. Finish tonight ...

- the author's "how to" descriptions are as meticulous as Cormac McCarthy's.

Finished last with this short and intense tale of survival and maturing. I gather that the author has written a LOT of books very much like this one - not exactly literature but good, solid Y/A stuff.

- 3.5* rounds down to 3*

[Katelyn Loehrke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response
I personally loved this book! I like how there is so much that I can relate to in this book. For example the intense descriptions of the family farm that you come to love that others will hate for their entire life and how you can tell what your neighbors are doing just by the sound of the engines: telling exactly what they are using. I could not put this book down once I got reading it until it was the end. Overall I rate this book with five stars.

Plot Summary
It's the summer just after John Barron turned fourteen. The set year when, just like his father and grandfather ahead of him, he must start to take care of the sheep in the hay meadow. Except for the fact that there is two horses, four dogs, and six thousand sheep, he is completely on his own. Also taking care of the wagon is a struggle just of its own. One of the nights, a fierce time exhausting storm rolls in the horizon just as the sun is setting. The entire world turns pith black and John can't see anything, not even his hand five inches in front of him. He inches around in the wagon until he finds a lantern and goes outside checking on all of the animals. Suddenly a loud crash from the other end of the hill. He realizes that it's the wagon and it's rolling/sliding in a mudslide. Everything is tearing apart fast for John and his adventure. To find out more, read the book.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book to anyone who has read, and enjoys, Gary Paulson's books. I would also recommend this book to people who enjoy reading about survival and/or the old fashioned ways of farmers from the twentieth century. I think that everybody should read at least one of Gary Paulson's books.

[Sandra]

Fourteen-year-old John Barron lives on the land that used to be his great-grandfather’s ranch. He works the land with his father and his father’s helpers, but he wishes that something in his life would change. He is not sure what. One day, one of his father’s helpers is critically ill, and he has to stay with him in town near the hospital. That leaves only John to take the sheep to the hay meadow for their yearly summer stay. Just him, six thousand sheep, four dogs, and two horses. He is filled with doubt that he can manage this alone. How would he take care of all those sheep? Would he get lonely during those months alone?

This is another of Paulsen’s gems about growing up and the character finding out that he is stronger and wiser than he thinks he is. Paulsen’s characters always ring true -to-life and are likeable and very human. The settings are intricately and beautifully described, with his love of nature shining through. This is a wonderful book written for the young, but it also appeals to the older readers, too!

[Jerry Wei · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the novel opens, John is innocent to how life actually is. Posters on his wall show his grandfather revealing how much he admires and wants to be like him. Every thought on him was on how tough and how good he was, as the truth is buried under a thick blanket of rumors. John’s life was easy, as his “servants” help him do chores and get him every necessity. He lives in a huge ranch, with tons of space to play and ride on his horse. But not everything good lasts. His peaking fortune has been upturned, as he is at the beginning of the mountain again, when Tink gets cancer and his father has to stay with him. So now, John has to take the sheep to the Haymeadow, alone for 3 months, at the age of 14, without any guidance. Yes, there is Cawley, another helper, but he has to take care of the ranch. John struggles to take care of the thousands of sheep. On the very first morning, tragedy strikes, as a snake slithers into the midst of the sheep and strikes deep into a ewe. John is sympathetic as he knows that the rest of his “family” would have shot the ewe, but he tries to save it, increasing the ewes pain. The ewe dies after a few minutes, as John is only beginning to see the harsh reality of life.






Snakes, coyotes, bears, are only the starters in this course. Nature lashes out even more violently than ever, creating a flash flood that sweeps John and the wagon into the stream, pulling them more, and more downstream. Even if John is alive, there are more problems to face as a tipped over wagon and lost gun awaits him. When John finally finds the wagon, he sees most of the contents have been washed out, but that’s not the only problem. The wagon, which at least has to be the weight of a couple Johns, was tipped over, leaving him with no shelter. Nothing could have prepared John for this kind of trouble. Normally Cawley, Tink, or his father would have been called on to solve the problem, but they aren't there. John has to solve this by himself. He quickly sees the answer to that problem, as he attaches the horses to the wagon and pulls it out. John is coming to a solid level of control as he begins to solve the problems, but the problems that nature has caused are not the only kinds of problems that he will face along his path.





Nature has caused many problems along John’s path. The final problem that is introduced in the book, is one that is the deepest. It is surprisingly announced in a conversation. This conversation deals with psychology much more than physical, as his father breaks the truth of the so called great man Johns grandfather is. John, who has believed his whole life, that his grandfather was actually what nature would call a man, finds out he got that title by murdering people. This is truly shocking to him as that thought had never occurred in his head. Johns father must truly believe in and that John has really grown up to just suddenly review the dark secret that has been concealed for many years.





Dangers, and opportunities pop up as you understand what life actually is, once his wake up fully, wake up through new eyes and see the world.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not just frigid Northern winters and dogsledding that Gary Paulsen writes about with unique sensitivity and experiential knowledge. He speaks of the American West with the same affection and familiarity, aided by the fact that he and his wife, Ruth Wright Paulsen (who contributed The Haymeadow's handsome illustrations), owned homes in Wyoming and New Mexico when this novel was first published in 1992. Gary Paulsen always was an indefatigable researcher, not laying pen to page until he knew his subject intimately and could write about it with the passion of a long-deferred lover, but The Haymeadow carries that personal touch which no amount of academic research can quite replicate, the experiential element that readers and reviewers praised about the Western stories written by 1920s Newbery Medalist Will James. When you accompany Gary Paulsen's characters to the old Barron haymeadow through the summer, you're signing on for breathtaking wilderness backdrops and sudden, cruel calamity; the almost spiritual sensation of yielding to the will of the awesome natural world, and the stresses that swarm you and demand alert attention at all hours of the night, crises attacking in packs like predators after easy quarry. The wilderness is like the bubble of modern life, only far simpler, threats to your existence coming from carnivores and freakish weather patterns rather than the thorny complications of human society. Each day is an unheralded challenge that could bring death for the people in charge or the helpless creatures entrusted to their care, and readers will hang on every tense moment as the balance sways and our protagonist's fate remains completely uncertain. This is life in the haymeadow, the same as it was fifty or one hundred fifty years ago, and surviving to tomorrow's dawn is the only sure indication you've done something right.

Young John Barron's family has owned thousands of acres of mountain pasture in Wyoming for generations, hailing back to John's great-grandfather, who legend says cleared and claimed the land by himself when he was still south of age twenty. The property has been good to the Barrons, providing wide open space for their sheep to graze en route to the haymeadow each year. John thinks fondly on his great-grandfather, marveling at the empire he built. He'd like to make his own mark in the ranching industry, but doubts he has the temerity demonstrated by the old man when he staked claim to all those thousands of unsettled acres and drove away anyone who questioned his right to it. John does his part to maintain the Barron ranch these days, though it technically no longer belongs to his family. Hard times forced them to sell it to the government many years back, but the feds pay the Barrons to manage the acreage, so not much has changed from the golden era, when being a Barron meant owning unspoiled range extending further than a horse could travel in several days. The annual sheep drive to the haymeadow will start any day now, headed by John's father's righthand man, Tink, but the predictability of the drive goes awry when Tink is diagnosed with cancer. John's father wants to stay with Tink in the city while he undergoes last-ditch treatment, so John is the only one available to supervise the sheep. Just days after his fourteenth birthday, it falls on John to herd 6,000 of the wooly ungulates over river, valley, and scorched earth to the oasis of green grass miles away, aided only by a pair of horses and a trio of sheepdogs. Cawley, his father's other ranch hand, can escort John to the haymeadow, but once he's there John will be alone for months. It's a daunting task even for a man like Tink who's made the drive for decades, but John is in way over his head, and he knows it.

How do I describe the migration to the haymeadow? The trip there isn't bad with Cawley along to wrangle the obstinate sheep, but John won't have that safety net long. Everything goes bad the night Cawley hits the trail, John's last human support disappearing over the horizon on horseback. The sheep get into trouble as though it's their duty to cause themselves harm in ways John can't guard against, and nature is all too willing to participate in the game. Famished predators descend from the mountains when they pick up the savory scent of defenseless sheep. Daggers of lightning slash the sky and mountainside, thunder powerfully erupting for hours and torrential rainfall rising in flash floods that endanger human and sheep alike. But there's no admitting defeat and bowing out of this test for John. He's unable to communicate with anyone, every decision his alone to make and deal with the consequences of until his father comes for him in a couple of months. Catastrophe bombards him from every angle so that it seems impossible to believe he could last a single night without his sheep, dogs, or himself being killed, but he must fight through his losses and defend what's left as every contingency fails. John had no concept what it was like for Tink in the haymeadow every year with the sheep and rivers and mountains, canyons yawning silently all around, and no human interaction for a whole season. He had no idea the danger Tink faced, but it's becoming painfully clear now. If John survives the summer to reunite with his father when he comes with fresh supplies, he'll have passed one of the stiffest character tests known to modern man. And he'll understand better than ever his great-grandfather's sacrifices to claim the haymeadow in the first place.

The Haymeadow will ring especially true—and hit particularly hard—for readers who have experienced sudden, shocking tribulation, whether brought on by their own mistakes or through no fault of their own. It doesn't matter if we have thousands of vulnerable sheep and can't possibly guard them all from malfeasance, it's our job to do so and it feels like failure when a carnivore rips one's throat open. Tragedy accosts John as soon as he's without a grownup to consult, as though it were waiting for Cawley's departure. A snake strikes, killing sheep and forcing John to crush it with a rock so his flock can sleep in relative safety that night. The sheepdogs corner a skunk that wanders into camp and it sprays them and John, a nauseatingly pungent odor that will take months to eradicate. The dogs damage their feet on the rocky terrain and a mountain flood pulls John's wagon into the river, wrecking his supplies and leaving them strewn along miles of winding stream bed. The coyotes are bad, systematically making a meal of the sheep one by one, but not as bad as the bear, angry and ravenous with the strength to shred John and every animal under his protection. John sorely misses his rifle, but it washed away with the wagon and he can't find it. The gun is his only protection against the brutality of the wild, his only token of authority over predators. John can't relax for a moment and start thinking he's learned what shepherding is all about or he'll have another terror on his hands, and he might not live through this one. Real life is perpetual emergency, always fearing there's another shoe ready to drop and it might crush your bones. John's life-or-death summer is easy to relate to because we understand the feeling of helplessness that comes with not really having control over anything. John's response after the skunk sprays him, coating body, nose, and mouth: "Everything, he thought, for the rest of my life will taste like this—forever." Isn't that how we feel in the midst of crisis, that the horror of the present moment will never lighten, and we'll be prisoner to it forever? Gary Paulsen's realistic rendering of crisis is unsurpassed by any other author, and makes The Haymeadow a rich, rewarding novel.

The story's insight into working out serious problems on the fly and adjusting to extreme challenges is remarkable, marking it a worthwhile read even if there weren't a strong central narrative. After night one in the haymeadow, figurative fires igniting everywhere and John doing his best to stamp out as many as possible, he already feels utterly defeated. "It didn't matter. Time didn't matter. Nothing much mattered any longer. He was done—the day had whipped him. One day." John had envisioned his ranching future with romantic optimism, fantasizing about following in his great-grandfather's footsteps as a cowboy who didn't take guff from anyone, but a few hours on his own in the wild has reduced him to a broken, humbled person. He can't do this job, not without help. He's tempted to saddle his horse and head home, but he can't abandon the sheep, and the fact that he has no escape makes his desperation even worse. "He couldn't leave and he couldn't stay and he couldn't do anything right..." How many of us have felt that way? We may not spend a single minute of our life tending sheep, but most of us are more acquainted with that feeling than we're comfortable admitting. What are you supposed to do when you can't leave, stay, or do anything right? You just muddle through failure after failure, knowing you're not getting anything right, but you've committed to going through the motions. And strangely, once you're in that place, it frees you to actually do a few things right, to take advantage of the learning curve without pressure to do so quickly because you have no hope for improvement anyway. John's progress is glacial and so ostensibly out of the question that we're surprised to realize one day that he's getting the rhythm of shepherding, and the haymeadow and its mountains aren't such a torture chamber. Frontier beauty sprawls as distant as the natural skyline. "By the end of three weeks things had reversed and he decided one afternoon to try and find what wasn't beautiful. He was sitting on the side of the stream and had his pants rolled up and his bare feet in the water and he looked around and thought of the last three weeks and tried to think of something that wasn't beautiful. And he couldn't. Maybe the coyotes, the one that grabbed the lamb—but that was part of it as well, part of the beauty. Even that." Death—and fear, anger, sadness, and regret—are inextricably part of life's beauty, for without those negative emotions to feel in response to hardship and loss, we'd have no basis against which to appreciate peace, happiness, and love. The murderous coyote and majestic mountains, the turgid floodwaters and bucolic meadows, all intricately coexist in what we recognize as beauty. John's brave, endlessly loyal sheepdogs are part of the beauty as well, valiantly resisting nature's mega-forces that threaten to destroy their young master as he ventures into the wild world of every beast for itself. Cawley reminds John what a remarkable ally he has in his dogs, companions that don't know when to quit giving of themselves. "You got to take care of them...They're smart but they're dumb too. They'll do too much for you because of how they feel about you. Dogs don't think of the end, only the beginning. So you've got to take care of them." Kids can be a lot like dogs in that way. Give them reason to love you and they'll do it with unwavering commitment, ready to give their all and trust to the end that you're worth the sacrifice. You need to take good care of them, because they're counting on you to do so. One finds this depth of theme all through The Haymeadow, making it a book to read over and over if you want to get everything it offers. As children's lit, Western, coming-of-age, survival adventure—whatever you want to label it—this book is a find of rare literary quality, worthy of the author's first-class reputation.

Gary Paulsen has written so many fine books that it's hard to authoritatively say which are his "very best", but in my estimation The Haymeadow has to be placed in that category. I'll concede The Rifle and Woodsong as better, but I don't know that any other Paulsen titles should be placed ahead of this one. The spirit of the American West and life lived with a bend-don't-break attitude is splendidly evoked in The Haymeadow, a novel as deserving of Newbery award consideration as the author's three books that were actually Honored by the Newbery committee. If you're new to Gary Paulsen's writing, you'll get as clear an idea what he's about from The Haymeadow as from any of his books. I give it three and a half stars, and I'll never forget the perspective it afforded me on life, death, and the anxiety over what occurs between one and the other. I strongly recommend The Haymeadow.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the idea of nature of many is only serenity, calm, and peace, the real laws of nature apply for much more, good and bad. The Haymeadow (no italics :( ) serves as a good read to imply the laws and parts of nature. The primal yet calming feel to nature really stands out in the book, and this makes me think more of the different circumstances that impact on the characters. This book really reminds me of the novel, Captains Courageous, because of the growing and change occurred. All except that Captains Courageous takes place in the roaring sea of fish and water, and The Haymeadow takes place in the swaying "sea" of hay. As peaceful as it seems to be, the hard growth that was forced on John really connects to the "Manning Up" of the main character from Captains courageous. They go through the primal rules of nature and experience several moments of realization, as well as witness deaths, and finally becoming different from their previous self, and bringing out the "true self", hidden in the deepest parts of the human conciousness.

[Brandon Dittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response:
I truly like the book, The Haymeadow, by Gary Paulsen. I like the fact that it deals with the outdoors a lot. The whole book takes place in the outdoors and I really like books that take place in the outdoors. This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read so far by Gary Paulsen.

Plot Summary:
John Barron is only 14 years old when he is asked by his father to take care of the sheep during the summer. This task is not going to be easy for the young boy. John is forced to take care of the sheep for three months in complete isolation from the rest of the world. John receives many difficult tasks right when he arrives in the hay meadow. Once John has all six-thousand sheep out grazing, he sets up the camp. The first major problem that John acquires is that his camp is destroyed by a storm. He hears the sheep making a fuss and he exits the wagon with a lantern to see what the fuss is all about. He is attending the sheep when he hears a loud ruckus back towards camp. The wagon and all of his supplies are thrown into the creek. He is then forced to repair his camp. He then spends the next day salvaging what was left of his camp. This is only one of the major catastrophes John is forced to face alone in the wilderness.

Characterization:
John is a fourteen-year-old boy. He is taking care of sheep in a hay meadow. He has to do this task because his father and his grandfather did it growing up. John is skeptical about the task because he feels like it may be too difficult for him to complete it successfully. On the ride to the hay meadow, Cawley assures John that everything will be fine. While John spends time out in the hay meadow with the sheep, he realizes it is not as bad as he originally thought. At the end of John’s summer, his dad arrives at the hay meadow to accompany John for the afternoon and the following day. They talk all night long which they both enjoy very much because they do not get to talk a lot back at the ranch. The following morning, John’s father leaves camp and John is left alone again. John is disappointed that he left, but all of a sudden his father returns to him. His father decides to spend the rest of the summer with him. At the end of the summer, both John and his father have accomplished tasks they have not done before. John steps up to the plate and takes care of the sheep. While his father takes the responsibility of having a good bonding time with John.

Setting:
It takes place on a family farm in Wyoming in the 1970s during the summer months. The setting is important to the storyline because it is summer when John is staying in the mountains taking care of the sheep. The weather is warm and peaceful. He stays and sleeps in a wagon while overseeing the hay meadow where the sheep are grazing. The time period is important too because nowadays kids will not leave their phones or cars to live out in the wilderness like John.

Thematic Connection:
The Haymeadow contains many themes throughout it. The one that pops out to me is John’s ability to overcome his fears and worries. At the beginning of the book, John is approached by his father. His father tells him that he is going to need to take care of the sheep over the summer. John is very nervous and scared about taking on this task. He feels this way because he is only 14 years old. He is really nervous the whole trip to the hay meadow. After John spends a couple of days alone with the sheep, he realizes that it is not as bad as he thought it was going to be. John beat his fear of being alone with the sheep.

Recommendations:
I recommend The Haymeadow to anyone who likes western books. It is another one of Gary Paulsen’s great books. Anyone that likes his books will really like this one. I think that early teenagers would like this book because they can relate to John and feel what he is going through.

[Lara Kasparian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been re-reading favorite authors from when I was in elementary school, and Gary Paulsen was one of the best. I couldn't remember much about this book, but I remember thinking it was such a cool setting. It didn't disappoint as an adult. I love hearing about the ranch, the family history, and the beautiful scenery. The concept of staying alone in a secluded mountain valley for 3 months with only the sheep and dogs as companions fascinated me then, and it fascinates me now. I love this book. The plot twist at the end felt right and made this book end with a contented feeling. I'm having so much fun reading these books again.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paulsen does what Paulsen does - gives us a good, character based, adventure story.

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.

It's a YA story, maybe 200 pages, reads fast and you will soon find yourself transported to Paulsen's world. It was good. Not his best work but definitely worth a couple hours of your time.

[Havebooks Willread · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed this very much. It is a coming-of-age story perfect for my 13yos who is hardworking, independent, and adventurous. I do think it's unfortunate we no longer have a culture which finds it appropriate for a 14yo young man to be responsible for defending sheep against coyotes and bears all alone in the mountains for three months. I can see how he would be walking a little taller and know better who he is (and is not!) after an experience like that.

(Content considerations: there is some language and a tolerant attitude toward "girlie magazines" that I skipped over in reading aloud)

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I didn't hesitate to give five stars, this one would get them. Wonderful, heartfelt story.
It's not just for kids.

[Shelby Burrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it!!! Wish I was a 14 year old shepherd living in my trailer

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very interesting book that was fun to read and it has you on edge waiting for the next thing to happen the whole time so it is very fun to read

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I swear to God I read this book when I was younger because I've seen the book in my childhood house and I read a lot of books by Gary Paulsen when I went through a bit of a "survival middle grade novel". But, since I've been craving survival fiction and haven't been able to find an adult survival novel yet, I figured I'd revisit some classics from my past.

I always seem to regret rereading middle grade fiction because I had such great feelings about it when I was younger, but now that I'm older, it's harder to put away my critical eye and I see why it is for a younger audience. The same thing happened while rereading some Cornelia Funke - I still enjoyed it, but I guess I noticed more of the cracks or aspects that are intended for children.

This is a classic coming of age story. Oh wait, no it’s not, because it’s about a 14-year-old boy that is left to tend sheep in a Montana valley surrounded by mountains. By himself. In the wild. Damn, when I was 14, I think I was listening to Radio Disney, riding my bike around, and discovering halter tops. But honestly, most of my elementary days blend together into one vague memory.

John is 14 years old and idolizes his grandpa, a strong silent type of claimed thousands of acres of land with just a rifle, two horses, and himself. You know, despite the fact that Native Americans and other settlers probably owned that land. Anyway, John want something to change because he’s now 14 and he is ready for the next stage of his life. Unfortunately, this change comes at the request to watch 6,000 sheep in the Montana mountains by himself. Well, he has 4 dogs, 2 horses, and a wagon full of food and a cast iron stove, but no other humans.

I’ve never been truly in the wild (State and National Parks don’t really count in this situation), so I can’t speak to this, but once in the mountains, The Haymeadow is the movie Gravity in Montana. Crisis after crisis keep popping up – coyotes, flash flood, bear attack, hurt dog, etc. etc. etc. Not that it isn’t possible or probable, or that it made the book unenjoyable, but damn, it was relentless. Gary Paulsen has had numerous experiences with the wild (hence the slew of survival books), so I would trust him over my idea of roughing it in nature, but it did make me wonder if this was just for the narrative device of proving that kids can be very capable and intelligent if you let them figure it out for themselves. It also serves as the realization for John that he is growing up and becoming a man, and will be quite a capable man despite his doubts before. Also that stories about grandparents can be misleading.

As for the writing, it’s very capable if a little stilted, in that it’s not overly poetic and certainly doesn’t mince words. Mostly this is due to the subject and the intended audience, but I think you get it. You probably won’t learn any new words or be blown away by nuance, but The Haymeadow doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. It does make me wonder if it’s worth it to read other books by him as they’re going to be very similar, I imagine…

[Jaymie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy his writing. It's a simple well told tale. I became attached to the characters quickly.

[K.C. Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Barron is restless on his family farm in Wyoming. He just turned 14, and nothing has changed. One of the ranch hands takes care of the 6,000 sheep on the farm. The other ranch hand takes care of the various mechanical troubles with the farm equipment. John’s father runs the farm, and John just spends time being John. The boy gets to help with the ranch as the older men need him, but he has no particular skills to call his own. One of the ranch hands becomes critically ill, and John is employed to take the herd to the haymeadow for the summer. John is completely unsure of his abilities, but knows he must do this if he is to become responsible and depended upon by his father. Paulsen’s sets the reader up with very likeable characters and then puts them in danger’s way. The remote location of The Haymeadow works well with the young character. The reader knows and expects something to go wrong, but in the grips of the action, is unsure of what will happen next. Suspense is the overall drive, and just when the reader feels the character can settle in, the speed of the story goes into fifth gear. In the process, the young character learns a great deal, and the reader learns of the resilience of the human spirit. Paulsen’s books are a great way to take an adventure without worrying if you will live through it. To add to this, his books are detailed enough to give the reader a glimpse of a place he or she may never visit. His descriptions make the imagination soar. This book is highly suggested as a family read, since all will greatly enjoy the remarkable journey from youth to adulthood.

[Jacob Lamirande · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing quick read. I have read this book before, but it has been about two years since then. All of the book seemed new to me. I like Gary Paulsen's books very much. I have also read his Hatchet series. I highly recommend this book. It is a good change of pace from all the "Classic Literature" we read in school.

[Geoff Mainwaring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gary Paulsen’s The Haymeadow tells the story of rancher’s son, John Barron. At 14 he’s obsessed with legendary tales of his great-grandfather, who single handedly settled a huge stretch of Wyoming for ranching. The economic realities of working as employees of an Eastern-owned corporation on a sheep farm seem like an indignancies compared to the mythic past which forms his family history. But then circumstances force John to bear the responsibility of protecting and caring for 6,000 sheep all by himself in a mountain valley above the tree line. When John’s emotionally distant father finally arrives to resupply the summer sheep camp, he begins to tell John the trruth about their ancestor.

Like other Paulsen novels, a major strength of the writing is the author’s crisp imagery and spare, Hemingwayesque action sequences. It is appropriate as a class text of an individual reader for students in upper elementary and middle school grades. The revelations provided at the end of the novel would be a great place to start discussions contrasting the mythic West with its reality. This would be an especially good novel to pair with a social studies unit contrasting the simplistic “How the West was won,” stories with the much more complicated historical truth. Accurate depictions of American westward expansion include more races, ethnicities, and women in a much wider variety of roles than were typically shown in the Hollywood Western of yore. They are also morally troubling.

[Dawson M · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE HAY MEADOW, by Gary Paulsen. It took place in the summer of 1970s in a farm town of Wyoming. The main characters are John, Grandpa, Ted and an old man. What had made me what to read this book is because I love all Gary Paulsen books and decided to give this a try after finding it on the book shelf.


It was just getting summertime and Johns grandpa wanted he to come to Wyoming to help with all the sheep. John wanted to stay home but when his grandpa called he knew he better go. There was 6,000 sheep and John was all alone on that big open field with only two horses and 4 dogs. A couple weeks went by and John was looking across the river as it started to raise. When the river comes up he has to move the sheep over across the land. When he was sleeping one time the coyotes started to attack all the sheep and while this was happening the river was still coming up high. John doesn't know if they will make it out alive.

The end of the book was a happy moment for me. What he did and how he used everything his dad had thought he was really amazing!!! I thought what he did was very brave. ‘’Get the mountains’’ was my favorite quotes because it shows that he is brave and that he is not scared of being lonely.



I really liked this book a lot and thought it really showed me how to be brave and I think this book would be great for kids and teens to read!! If you really like this book then I would read BRIAN'S WINTER, also by Gary Paulsen.

[Hunter smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Haymeadow
The Haymeadow, by Gary Paulsen, a book revolving more around the outdoors and about fourteen-year-old John Barron. John had to spend his whole summer alone. taking care of their sheep in the haymeadow, There was actually six thousand sheep, along with two horses, and four dogs. My close friend actually recommended this book to me, I have loved every bit of it.
John has always tried to emulate his grandfather based on all the wonderful stories he was told about him. When his father shows up to the haymeadow he has to face his fears as well as his dreams. John also faces his father and finds out the truth about his grandfather, his father, and himself.
The ending of The Haymeadow to me had nothing interesting about it. You could predict that the father was going to leave john. All of the events of the previous two chapters let you know that the father had it on his mind. This book nearly leaves you asking where the rest of the chapter is.
This book overall to me-until the end- was very interesting. I would recommend this book to people who like to read about the outdoors. Just feeling how john felt being alone with all the weight on his soldiers, trying to fulfill his father's shoes, was pretty extreme.

[Eric Tollefson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Haymeadow is about a teenager named John Barron who is forced to spend the summer protecting six thousand sheep, in a haymeadow, in Wyoming. John has to watch the sheep alone and he goes through many troubles in the story like a flash flood, coyotes, bears and snakes. The flash flood almost killed him and it washed everything he needed down the river. He finds the most of the things he needed the next day except his gun. That's when the coyotes show up at night and start killing some of the sheep so all be can do is try to run over then with his horse. He finds his gun a couple days later and when they come back, he kills one of them and they never come back. After that everything went smooth for awhile, but that's when a bear comes and kills sixteen sheep and leaves John hurt and one of his four dogs.
I liked this book and I liked the Man versus Nature conflicts it added a lot of action and suspense. The setting and how they described it really helped me visualize everything. I didn't like a little bit of this book. In the exposition it was really boring and it didn't get going until the first conflicts. I would recommend this book to people who like the man vs Nature conflicts or survival objective.

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living alone with his silent, widowed father and two ranch hands, young John Barron, just turned 14, consoles himself with stories of his legendary great-grandfather, founder of the Barron family and ranch, "meaner than nine hells," who arrived in Wyoming with only two horses and a gun and took what he wanted, and did what he wanted. He imagines that the old man would spend time with him as his preoccupied father does not.
When the ranch's shepherd, Tinck, is diagnosed with cancer, John has to tend the 6,000 sheep in their summer pasture in the mountains of Wyoming in his place. Alone, except for four sheep dogs and two horses. He doesn't want to. He hates sheep. But there is no one else. Feeling woefully inadequate, John contends with rattlesnakes, coyotes, flash floods, a bear and injuries to dogs and sheep. But he refuses to give in, and finds in himself a resourcefulness, ingenuity, knowledge and determination that he didn't know he had. He, the dogs, the horses, and even the sheep are a community, dependent on each other. And his father is proud of him, and free now of the worry caused by John's obsession with his terrible great-grandfather.

[Mitchell Larkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Wyoming farmer becomes sick, and leaves his summer time sheep duties to his 14 year old son. He has a farm hand that usually will take care of the sheep, but he is also ill with cancer and dying. There is one more hand, who helps John the 14 year old son get the sheep and supplies to the haymeadow. He does not give much instruction, and John is faced with many difficult situations. He is attacked by a bear, and has a viscous pack of coyotes attack his herd of sheep. a few are killed, but not to many, it is normal to lose a few sheep every summer anyway he was told. His dad comes to check on him after leaving him for 47 days. John's dad tells him that there farm hand Tink who was dying of cancer is now recovering very well. John is then left to survive the last few months of the summer. John makes it through the rest of the summer, and then gets to go home for the first time in over 2 months. this is another good gary paulsen wilderness novel where it is man versus nature. He does a great job every time to keep the readers hooked to the book for the entire book.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book for several years (decades, actually) but just finally got around to reading it in its entirety. I know that Gary Paulsen's target audience is teenage boys, as some other reviewers have also noted, but in reality, anyone can enjoy his stories.

The action, I expected. The brutal realism and challenges, I expected. What I didn't expect? The heart. John Barron is a character that I really feel for, despite our upbringings having been quite different. You get in his head, but more importantly, you get in his heart. He's someone you want to cheer for.

The brutal realism and the almost poetic descriptions of the countryside and John's own heart don't seem like they should work half as well together as they do...but they do. And that's life, I guess.

Some things I expected to encounter in this book...but many I didn't, particularly toward the end. This is one of those stories that, while simple in some ways, is profound in others, and it will stay with me.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The principal at my school loves this book, but it was recently removed from the "approved" reading list at our middle school, which naturally made me curious to see exactly why. This book could be really meaningful for some readers. The young man has to learn how to survive and take care of the sheep herd in the summer pasture, and he is successful. I found it to be a quick read, packed with action AND introspection, quite enjoyable.
The farmhand Crawley has a number of mild swears at the beginning, but then he isn't in the story anymore. There is one reference to Playboy magazine, and then some survival violence, like lambs dying from snakebites, or coyote and bear attacks. I didn't find it overly descriptive or gory. I guess these are the reasons it was removed? Who really knows, not me. Good read for a tween, teen, or grown up who enjoys western stories. (I think my husband would enjoy this one.)

[Tim Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m always amazed at the number of high quality books that Gary Paulsen produced in a regular basis. It’s been a treat reading deeply in his catalogue of work and discovering gems like The Haymeadow.
The Haymeadow is yet another coming of age story as a 14 year old boy is tested when he is responsible for six thousand sheep as they graze for three months in a valley in the mountains of Wyoming. Paulsen continues his hard edged depiction of nature in all its cruelty as young John Barron encounters a series of mishaps and challenges in short order. Young readers will picture themselves in the same situation and wonder how they would react.
John feels distant from his father and measures himself by the achievements of an outsized ancestor, both sub themes in the book that are handled deftly by the author.
I admit that the book starts slowly but once it hits its stride The Haymeadow was the most compelling book I’ve read this year. A darn good read.
Highly recommended.

[David Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paulson writes revisionist Westerns. By that, I mean he generally adopts a Nihilistic view of Western expansion. In a sense, The Haymeadow is a vehicle for this view, but not entirely. While drawing sharp criticism on the methods of Western expansion, he posits a New West: one where a younger generation with a deep-seated love of land and of place protect and preserve what others may have once squandered.

Elmer Kelton and Louis L’amour —this is not. Paulsen takes no rosy, Romantic view of the Old Timers. On a personal note, I part ways with Paulsen on this point. However, I admire what Paulsen has done in this particular novel.

John, the teenage protagonist encapsulates the hope of the West; all of its promise, and all that’s good. His relationship with his father is touchingly rendered, and a reminder that love endures more than hate.

[George Crowder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A crackling-good read from the master of juvenile survival lit. This book feels a bit like a precursor of hatchet. The set-up for The Haymeadow's young protagonist, John Barron, isn't quite as dramatic as the plane crash in Hatchet, but the life-and-death stakes seem pretty similar, and John Barron has the additional responsibility of defending 6,000 sheep, albeit with the help of stalwart dogs and a pair of excellent horses. But assisting those animals with their own issues presents additional challenges, which add to the complexity and intrigue of the situation. Another excellent Paulsen story.