The Loner

by Ester Wier

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.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Childrens, Dogs, Juvenile

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Ester Wier (nee Alberti) was born October 17, 1910 in Seattle, Washington. She studied at Southeastern Teachers College from 1929-30 and attended the University of California at Los Angeles from 1931-1932. In 1934 she married Henry Robert Wier, a naval officer, and later had two children. As a Navy wife, Ester Wier lived all over the United States and in 1956, she co-wrote, with Dorothy Hickey, The Answer Book on Naval Social Customs. In 1963, Ester Wier published her first book for children and young adults, The Loner, the story of a lonely boy who finally gains a name and a home; the book received a Newbery Honor citation in 1964. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ester Wier published other works of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults that were praised by critics for their well-researched settings and details. Many of her books are "stories of children, primarily boys, who are seeking acceptance by themselves or others," and Ester Wier has been lauded for her understanding of "youth's efforts to stand on its own" and children's "need to achieve and be accepted." Ester Wier's fiction has also been praised for her "well drawn and believable characters" and for her "ability to interweave imagery with action and dialogue."

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Someone will care if you just give 'em a chance. There's always people who need you as much as you need them. Don't you forget that. All you got to do is find 'em. And when you do, you find you're happier carin' about someone else than just about yourself all the time."

—Tex, The Loner, PP. 34-35

I would give three and a half stars to The Loner.

This book takes its deep, permanent emotional roots in the absolutely heartrending events of the first chapter, and builds from that strong emotional base throughout the rest of the story. Rarely have I been so drawn in or empathized so completely with the characters and their losses after only a single chapter, but Ester Wier lays out the story of this unnamed loner boy with such openness and stark clarity that I could feel his loss and his pain and his loneliness deep down from the get-go. In fact, the author's appeal in this regard is so strong that it would be difficult for anyone who has experienced loss not to be swept up in the narrative.

Ultimately The Loner is a quiet story about a boy who has known nothing but self-preservation for as long as he can remember, and the string of events on which he embarks that just might lead him to people who love him, and can teach him what it means to care deeply for others and live as part of a real family. The ways in which these things come to pass make for a book to which I very likely would have given the 1964 Newbery Medal.

What I will remember most about this book is the first chapter, and everything later on that referenced that chapter. Raidy is my favorite person in the story, and in my opinion it is the emotional effects of her presence that make The Loner the truly fine book that it is.

"There was no end to the things that happened to sheep unless they had a shepherd who cared more about them than anything else in the world."

—The Loner, P. 150

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book with my nine year old son. It was my great-grandpas book and my dad gave it to my son. So it was pretty sentimental just reading this old copy for that reason. But I thought the book was beautiful. The characters were dynamic and engaging and even the ones you only got to meet for a minute, you felt privileged to know and connected to or 'good-riddance'.
The whole story was an emotional journey that you took right along with the main character. Watching him find his name and grow to understand who he truly was and what it meant to love and be loved and show that love was just so touching.
The lessons were sweet, poignant, and powerful. I'm surprised this book doesn't have a higher rating. I wish there were more such stories.
If I had to describe this book in one word it would be: Touching.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story that I am sad to have never encountered before. It moves quickly, but covers a lot. There are a couple of early episodes that gave me a false sense of what the book would be, but after those, it settles in to a pretty focused setting and group of characters. One of those early episodes is very shocking, and it is referred back to a number of times later. I love how this extremely powerful bit was written. It works so well. The reader kind of receives a bit of the same effect as the protagonist does.

I like the illustrations by Christine Price, whom I had only known previously from her Made In The Middle Ages.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying July young adult 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 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.

[SamZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

1964 Newbery Honor. This was an interesting story about a boy finding a family and a home. The first little bit of the book is a touch on the sad side, but eventually the boy finds a home (and a name) and begins to learn about the dynamics of not only herding sheep, but how to live in a family and contribute to the good of the whole.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this many times in childhood and decided to re-read it to see if it held up. It did. It features a young boy who has no name. He is a crop picker, hopping rides from anyone who is willing towards the next field and the next crop. He has no name and no family. And he is fine with that. He is a loner.

An unexpected tragedy causes him to run away, trying to find the next field on his own. Instead, he ends up in the wagon of Boss, a sheepherder. She understands sheep and is never more happy then when she is working with her flock. But she and the boy understand each other. And they try to help each other grow. But another tragedy comes and he wants to run again.

I thought the story was great. It's told in simple language, but very well done. There were few characters, just enough to get the story told and no one was very complicated. It ends well. I would recommend it for 4th grade on.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Poignant book about a homeless boy - being alone is all he knows, he doesn't remember a mother, a father, or even a name. Answering to Boy or You, he's one of many farm workers that travel travel from farm to farm from Florida to Texas to Idaho. He gives up his earnings for a share of a meal and space on the floor or in a truck. He runs away from the workers' caravan when a girl dies, the one he's beginning to think is a friend, the one who was going to give him a name. When he collapses he's found by a sheepherder/ranch owner known as Boss. He's in Montana now and he has an opportunity to find a place. The boy's journey is beautifully written. It has similarities to a few other Newbery books. "And Now, Miguel" and "Old Ramon" are both shepherding books, but only "Blue Willow" describes the life of migrant farm workers. I really wish this book were still in print. I read this for my 2020 Reading Challenge (Book Bingo "warm, fuzzy feeling") and my Newbery Challenge (Honor 1964). I read this via Open Library/Internet Archive due to library closures during the Covid 19 pandemic.

[Angie Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this book had a really distant style and did a lot of telling instead of showing, but I still found myself interested in the story and really wanting to see David find his place and a home. There were a couple of episodes particularly the part with Raidy :'( that were a bit more grim than I like, especially in children's fiction, but I think the distance and understated writing helped to keep them from the horror they could have had.

3.5 stars

Content--a girl is caught by her hair in a harvesting machine and killed, although there are few details given; mentions of deaths; animals are injured and killed; mentions of blood and wounds

[Shanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

A boy with no family is taken in by a sheepherder. The boy has been on his own and taking care of himself as long as he can remember. However, as soon as he finds a home with the sheep lady, he makes a bunch of irrational and irresponsible decisions which cause trouble for himself and those around him. If he was hardscrabble enough to survive this long, why is he suddenly so stupid? It doesn't make sense. Also the plot relies on too many "coincidences".

[Hellkitten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Recommend it highly. The characters stay with you for a long time. It is an early Newbury Prize winner, if I remember correctly. Book about the survival of a child in hostile country, and the friends he meets along the way who help him to survive and learn.

Good book to read at the diner in winter.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

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?

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A teacher once read this book to our 4th grade class, I have often thought about the story so I thought I would read it again. It is short.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet story about a young boy who doesn't have anyone or anything, not even a name! He traveled for a few years with migrant crop pickers barely making enough to keep him fed. He depended on the kindness of others to take him from one crop to the other. His one friend was killed by one of the picking machines and he decides he's had enough and sets out on his own setting a goal to reach California any way he could. He walked a few days eating what wild berries and potatoes he could find. He was finaly too tired and hungary to move another inch and lays down to die. Then his luck changed and a sheep dog named Jup found him and got his owner to come and see. Enter - Boss into the picture and things began to look up for the first time in his life!
This is a great book to read to your kids because it has lots of good lessons to teach and shows how people can change and have a totally different outlook on life when given a little kindness and care.

[Hope Irvin Marston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another very old book I found on my shelf. I don't know why I never read it. The cover is inviting and the story delightful as well written. It was well deserving of being named a Newberry Honor Book.
The loner is a migrant worker who is left behind by a man who took his earnings and then left him behind as he moved on. The boy finds himself alone...and he determines to survive. The book is also a introduction to the life of sheepherders and the hard, dedicated lives they lived.
Middle readers will enjoy reading it themselves. But it would also make a great read-aloud for families or classroom teachers.

Hope Irvin Marston, author of THE WALLS HAVE EARS: A BLACK SPY IN THE CONFEDERATE WHITE HOUSE.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first few chapters of this book are brutal. The boy who is the main character doesn't have a name, has no memory of parents or who they might have been, and travels from crop-pick to crop-pick with whoever will let him travel with them for awhile. There is a terrible tragedy. Then he lands in Montana, on a sheep ranch. The rest of the book is about him and the rancher who takes him in learning to not be loners and to let someone in. The details about sheep herding were fascinating, and I really enjoyed the book overall.

[Amber Scaife · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Bailey Winter]

The boy in this book starts out being nameless. He doesn’t remember his past. All he knows how to do is survive. He picks up fruit on various farms across the southwest. The boy stays with anyone that will take on his quest to stay alive. He gives up all his wages for food and a place to sleep. Eventually, he finds a loving home and realizes he no longer has to be by himself and be a loner.

[Mary L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly deserves to be a Newberry Honor Book. David (the name he picked to replace the Boy everyone called him learns what it means to be a shepherd--interestingly I just read the Lord's rebuke to the shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel while I was reading this book. David became a shepherd that the Lord would be well pleased with.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book I wasn’t sure about, honestly I only wanted to read it because my sister had it, but it belonged to our mother when she was a child. If you take it for the time period it was written in and get over some of the comments about woman, the rest of it is very enjoyable. I couldn’t put in down from page one, I was invested in Boy and wanted to know how his story ends.

[Jesse Franzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was 10 and loved it then. As an adult, I've been looking for this book for many years, because I couldn't remember the title or a whole lot else, but I figured it out, read it again, and loved it like I was 10 all over again.

[Mary Burkholder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books as a young teen. I recently reread it and loved it just as much. An orphan migrant boy finds a home with ranch woman who has lost her own son. My eleven-year-old daughter and thirteen-year-old son mentioned how much they enjoyed it.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long lost but finally found!! I remember the scene of the girl dying but could never remember the name of the book. I finally found it this spring. It held up!

[Greg Western]

I love this book. My teacher read it to my 4th grade class a million years ago, and It holds a special place in my books.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure, things get (mostly) better for this kid but it is not enough to make up for the most brutal opening chapter in children's literature.

[Amilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Loved it.

[Matt]

The Loner
By: Ester Wier
Date Published: 1963
Genre: Action, Mysterious


A boy is left to roam across the states and he doesn’t even know his name. He travels places to places with people but they ignore him. He doesn’t watch out for other people because he was left by himself so he only worries and cares about himself. But he ends up meeting a girl that is about his age and she cares for him like no one else but then a horrible accident happens and he’s left to roam the states again. But when he’s roaming the states again he meets a big and tall lady named boss. He grows a relationship with her and he herds sheep with her. They both end up having a good relationship with each other and by the end of the book Boss adopts the boy.



The theme of the book is that not always you wont trust people but you may end up having a relationship or a friendship with them and you begin to trust and care for people. A quote from the book is “ I found boss and juno in a hole with scratches and there legs and arms hurt. I helped them to a good place to sit and rest.” It shows that the boy cares for Boss and the girl.


By the middle of the book the boy takes on the name David. And all through out the book Boss grows more and more attached to David. Audiences that may be interested in this book are people who like sad but action and mysterious books. The writing style the author uses is like sad but gripping your attention while your reading the book. This book is like no other books because ive never read a book with such a sad but attention gripping sentences and chapters.

My relationship with the book is that sometimes I don’t trust people but when I get to have a relationship with them I begin to trust and care for them

Like the David and Boss. The book has affected me by that when you should see the good side of people and should look out for them. What I enjoyed about the book is that the boy roamed the states free. I liked that because ive always wanted to roam the states with no rules and no one telling you what to do.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

a selection of my reactions on rereading this book for the first time in fifteen years:

"I'm gay."
"this book made me gay."
"I can see why this appealed to my third-grade self."
"the cover of this book made me gay."
"'Beyond him the road climbed another hill and upon the crest spruce trees bent in the wind and shadows spread like dark water seeping from the mountainside. The ruffled edges of the clouds had turned gold and for a moment it seemed that the whole world had become golden, the dried slopes about him reflecting the coming sunset. He was used to being out of doors at all hours but he had never seen anything like this, and he stood, swaying wearily, caught by its splendor.'"
"as a child I was odd and alone and thought that was 'the only way to be', as Janelle Monáe puts it, even though I knew not everyone was alone (or had been made to feel alone), and so, seeing no other way forward, I tried to embrace that, to adopt 'loner' as my self-description, told myself I had embraced it; but still part of me longed to feel like I really, truly belonged somewhere, without question — but also because I had earned my place, proven my worth, been deemed worthy. to be judged on my own merits and deemed acceptable — more than acceptable — oddness and aloneness and all. to prove myself while, still, remaining myself. not to have to change (and I knew even then that I was, to borrow another phrase, different from the others)."
"anyway, this book made me gay."

[Gale · Rating 3 out of 5]

BAPTISM IN THE WILDERNESS

A homeless, friendless, even Nameless youth travels alone in rural America as a migrant worker, with the vague idea of reaching the golden promises of California. Priding himself on his ability to look out for himself without any adult aid, the boy finally reaches Montana's sheep country, where he meets some people who actually grow to care about him as a person--not just as a day laborer. Can he overcome his natural (or acquired) suspicion and enforced independence to allow human emotions to enter and flow freely from his embittered heart?

Coming of age in the rugged wilderness of Montana this youth learns more than the responsibilities of the shepherd; he battles not only the primitive forces of hostile nature, but his own reckless impulses, plus an unreasonable jealousy of a young man he never even met. This unlikely protagonist determines to temporarily settle down and win the respect of the Boss. Many of the characters are driven to hunt down and destroy the Bear which killed the Boss' son. This Newbery Honor book includes plenty of action, as it presents a struggle for survival on two fronts: physical and social. For thoughtful readers from Middle School up.

(June 21, 2011. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts out with a homeless boy with no name traveling with a man and woman who are not his parents, but then the man has to go to jail, so the boy goes with another family who has a boatload of children. The beginning is so gruesome, and I don't appreciate that. I know those kinds of things can happen in real life, but that doesn't mean they have to be in a fiction book. Then the boy lives with a woman who lost her son in a bear attack, and he gets the name David from the Bible. He lives with Boss, the woman, and he gets to know Tex and Angie. David helps Boss take care of her sheep along with her two dogs. She is not extremely affectionate or good at expressing her feelings in words, but she does care about David. Everyone is obsessed with killing the bear that killed Ben.

I liked this book, but it maybe wasn't touchy-feely enough for me. Ben was used to being a loner but really needed some kind of affection, but everyone was so stoic.