The Beet Fields : Memories of a Sixteenth Summer

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Summary: The Beet Fields
Review: A good book but alittle out of my league, I'm more into suspence thrillers like "JAWS". I accually was reading this for a school project. This book has Gary Paulsen written all over it, although it was alittle differant from some of his other books (that I ended up reading) you can still reconize hie style. Reading this type of book for pretty much the first time, I enjoyed it. I did read "Hatchet" and "Brian's Winter" but I did'nt like them as much. The sequal to this book does sound interesting. I really liked the way
that Paulsen reffured to the main charactor as "The Boy" rather than some everyday name. With the content in this book I would not recomend it for readers under 13 years of age.

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Summary: Finding a Home
Review: David is a 16 year old boy who grows to be a man over one summer. He runs from home and from his mother, a drunk. He finds work on a few beet fields and makes Mexican friends. Then he ventures tobe a carny. He finds his true self and his true manhood. I liked the book because I can relate to David. I liked the way the book flows. David is a good character choice for the Beet Fields.

Rating:
Summary: The Beet Fields by Gary Paulsen
Review: David is a 16 year old boy who grows to be a man over one summer. He runs from home and from his mother, a drunk. He finds work on a few beet fields and makes Mexican friends. Then he ventures tobe a carny. He finds his true self and his true manhood. I liked the book because I can relate to David. I liked the way the book flows. David is a good character choice for the Beet Fields.

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Summary: A memorable memoir
Review: Gary Paulsen's latest installment in his collection of memoirs is a glimpse into his sixteenth summer, when he left his drunken parents to pursue life on his own. He takes work as a laborer in the beet fields, where he befriends Mexican workers and learns to hunt pigeons with his bare hands, and later does farm work, joins the crew of a traveling carnival, and learns about lust and love from an older, much more experienced woman.

While this isn't a book for younger readers, it will most definitely find an audience with teenagers who are familiar with Paulsen's writing and yearn to know more about his hardships and adventures when he was their age. Readers who enjoyed Hatchet and its sequels will find that the details of Brian's survival in the wilderness find an equally appealing match in the stories of Paulsen's own survival on the road in The Beet Fields.

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Summary: My Review
Review: I think the book was pretty good. It started of slow and i didnt think i would like it, but it didnt get interesting until the middle of the story. The story is about a sixteen year old boy who spends his hot summer days in the beet fields on North Dakota. He works from early that morning till almost dark along with Mexicans. The Boy meets to friends named Bobby and Rudy, who teach him many things and change his life for the best.

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Summary: The Beet Fields Memories of a Sixteenth Summer
Review: The Beet Fields Memories of a Sixteenth Summer is a book about the author's, Gary Paulsen, experiences. After "The Boy," as he is called, runs from his drunk parents he ends up working the beet fields with the Mexicans. As he juggles farm jobs, runs from the cops, and seeks love, he has many adventures. This book never has a dull moment and always keeps the reader on his or her toes. Each job ends quickly with split second decisions to take another. You never know if he will fall off a barn or fall in love with the farmer's daughter he has seen only once. The best part of all was the fast pace which never bores the reader.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: Welcome to the school of hard knocks son. Driven from home by the sexual advances of a drunken mother, a teenage boy closes the door on life as he knows it when he runs off in the dark of night. The 16-year-old boy, who goes the length of the novel unnamed, soon finds a job thinning beets in the fields of North Dakota with a group of migrant workers from Mexico. The boy is given little shelter, little food, and the labor is backbreaking; and the fees charged by the farmer for food (dry peanut butter sandwiches doled out by the farmer's crab of a wife) and the use of a hoe eat up what little he earns.
Before long, one of the Mexican men takes the boy under his wing and invites him to partake of their tortillas and beans. The boy marvels at the Mexicans' easy camaraderie and ability to transcend their intensive labor. Through them, he learns that good food, friendship, and a little music go a long way in easing the rigors of life.
When he's offered a permanent summer job on a nearby farm, the boy accepts after seeing the farmer's lovely daughter. Although he never gets a chance to speak to her, he dutifully plows the fields and does what is required of him without comment. The boy avoids town while accumulating quite a bit of money for his work, aware that the law may be looking for him because he is a runaway. A corrupt sheriff's deputy eventually rounds him up and steals his hard-earned cash, but leaves him unattended in an unlocked cell. Spurred on by his fellow inmate, a drunken old man, the boy walks out of jail without looking back.
Before his 16th summer is over, the boy has witnessed a fluke death, worked as a farmhand and substitute son for a widowed woman, learned the "carny" trade and been initiated into the wonders of sex. What more could a teenage boy ask for?

I dont know about you but thats all good for me so gust read it

Rating:
Summary: Sure to please Paulsen's posse of ardent fans.
Review: Welcome to the school of hard knocks, Gary Paulsen style. Driven from home by the sexual advances of a drunken mother, a teenage boy closes the door on life as he knows it when he runs off in the dark of night. The 16-year-old boy, who goes the length of the novel unnamed, soon finds a job thinning beets in the fields of North Dakota with a group of migrant workers from Mexico. The boy is given little shelter, little food, and the labor is backbreaking; and the fees charged by the farmer for food (dry peanut butter sandwiches doled out by the farmer's crab of a wife) and the use of a hoe eat up what little he earns.

Before long, one of the Mexican men takes the boy under his wing and invites him to partake of their tortillas and beans. The boy marvels at the Mexicans' easy camaraderie and ability to transcend their intensive labor. Through them, he learns that good food, friendship, and a little music go a long way in easing the rigors of life.

When he's offered a permanent summer job on a nearby farm, the boy accepts after seeing the farmer's lovely daughter. Although he never gets a chance to speak to her, he dutifully plows the fields and does what is required of him without comment. The boy avoids town while accumulating quite a bit of money for his work, aware that the law may be looking for him because he is a runaway. A corrupt sheriff's deputy eventually rounds him up and steals his hard-earned cash, but leaves him unattended in an unlocked cell. Spurred on by his fellow inmate, a drunken old man, the boy walks out of jail without looking back.

Before his 16th summer is over, the boy has witnessed a fluke death, worked as a farmhand and substitute son for a widowed woman, learned the "carny" (carnival) trade and been initiated into the wonders of sex. What more could a teenage boy ask for?

Modeled on Paulsen's own life, THE BEET FIELDS is as simple and straightforward as you can get. Although certain readers might be sensitive to the novel's sexual content, this optimistic and honest coming-of-age story is sure to please Paulsen's posse of ardent fans.

--- Reviewed by Tammy L. Currier