Larger	The Beet Fields : Memories of a Sixteenth Summer Author: Gary Paulsen
	Book Information Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Book Type: Hardcover Rating: 1 ISBN-13: 9780385326476 - ISBN-10: 0385326475 Publication Date: 9/12/2000 Pages: 176 Reading Level: Young Adult

For a 16-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every day's an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor; every day teaches him something more about friendship, or hunger, or profanity, or lust--always lust. He learns how a poker game, or hitching a ride, can turn deadly.
He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely farm in the middle of nowhere. Then he joins up with a carnival and becomes a grunt, running a ride and shilling for the geek show. He's living the hard carny life and beginning to see the world through carny eyes. He's tough. Cynical. By the end of the summer he's pretty sure he knows it all. Until he meets Ruby.