The Loner

Turns out that this Newbery honor that I never heard of is a good book. Lots of exciting action, especially one (very brief) horrifying scene near the beginning. Lots of feelings and coming-of-age stuff, too.

I do recommend it, except of course to sensitive children.

Unless you're just tired of sheep again. Is this our 4th or 5th book about shepherds in the Newbery Club!? I think I'd've given it the fourth star if I weren't so tired of reading about sheep.

Btw, this edition has no illustrations. I'll have to see if I can view some from the edition Michael read.

I'm enjoying July YA reading and all the Newbery award winning books I've read. This one is short and sappy and...wonderful!

Winner of the 1963 Newbery honor, this small book is heart warming and poignant. Homeless, nameless, young and stubborn, the character has no knowledge of a family. He simply remembers fending for himself for a long, long time. With no history of anyone to assist him, he struggles to survive and he does so barely, by eking out a bare subsistence living traveling as a migrant worker.

En route to California where he believes more opportunity may await, emaciated, starving and ill, he is found in the Montana wilderness by a tough woman who tends a large flock of sheep. Taking him in, she gives poetically gives him the show more name of David, the shepherd who valiantly fought the lion to guard his sheep.

This is an amazing tale of strength, courage and fortitude. It is a tale of building walls to protect. It is a story of a young boy who is afraid to trust and love and a woman who has suffered loss and likewise fears vulnerability.

Recommended. show less

An orphan boy who has learned to rely only on himself and lives day to day traveling west and working here and there on fruit farms somehow finds himself on a sheep farm in Montana and stumbles into a family to call his own.
A nice little story, if totally predictable. Plus: enter bear stage left. Another plus: sheepherding dogs.

Now and then, I continue on my quest to read all the Newbery Honor books. The Loner is the story of an orphan who unexpectedly winds up on a sheep farm run by a big yet shy woman who has lost her son to a bear. Lots of action. Do kids even know about lives like this boy’s?

This story is about a young boy who does not know where he came from. He wanders around from farm to farm picking fruit in order to survive. This story is a heartwarming tale and it is extremely dynamic. There were quite a few characters that you only got to meet for a short time, but in this story it seemed that every character was important. Eventually the orphan boy finds a family in Montana that he can call his own. This book is slightly predictable, but I did enjoy the story line.

The boy with no name doesn't remember his past; all he knows is that he has to survive, and that means picking fruit on various farms across the southwest. Staying with anyone who'll take him, he gives up all his wages for food and a place to sleep. Then he finds a loving home and realizes he is no longer a loner. A 1964 Newbery Honor book.

A boy who does not have a name or a home travels to crop picking camps. He runs away and gets lost. A sheperd finds him and she takes him in and names him David. Her son, Ben, was killed by a bear. David tries to find the bear. I really like this book even though it is slow-going.