Wanderers of the Field

About the Book

This is a novel about migrant farm workers. All his life Jack O'Neal has known the joy of moving from one place to another, winter and summer, spring and fall, following the crops with his family. Jack is a hard-working boy, and when his father suddenly dies he shoulders the responsibility for supporting himself, his mother, and his little sister. In addition, he takes upon himself the burden of repaying a loan old Colonel House, a plantation owner, had made to Jack's father.

Picking, grubbing, and clearing is back-breaking labor for them all, but there is fun and adventure too as they move through the South in the old truck that serves as their home. And they meet all sorts of interesting people, the kind stay-at-homes never get to know.

In the end something good happens to Jack, and he knows that thereafter his mother and sister will not have to work the fields again. But not before the reader has had a rare opportunity to get to know the life of the Wanderers of the Field.

About the Author

George Harmon Smith is the author of other children and Young Adult novels, such asBayou Boy and Wolf Dog. George has been a speaker at numerous schools and universities, sometimes speaking to hundreds, even thousands, of students at one time. He is a certified educational consultant, and helped write the guidelines for the revamping of the Arkansas School System. He is the husband of Willa Horne Smith. They have five children, two of whom have their father’s interest for writing.