The beet fields has 439 ratings and 77 reviews stephen said this book by the author of hatchet will probably appeal to slightly older boys but not to t. Gary paulsens pseudo memoir the beet fields memories of a sixteenth summer is by his own admission an attempt to render an honest look at a small piece of his . The best fields review the best fields soon finds a job thinning beets in the fields of north dakota with a group of migrant workers from mexico. Exposition characters the beet fields by gary paulsen tanner ellis lexile 1070 published in 2000 protagonist the boy sixteen years old and runs away from a troubled . For a 16 year old boy out in the world alone for the first time every days an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor every day teaches