Old Ramon is the story of a boy's gradual attainment of adult values and perspectives. The rancher's son accompanies Ramon for the summer grazing season. In years past, Ramon had served as mentor to the boy's father and grandfather, initiating them into the mysteries of the flock and the natural world. Like his forebears, the boy acquires practical knowledge from Ramon, such as how to distinguish a wolf from a coyote or how to use tobacco smoke to drive ticks off the sheep. More importantly, the boy is exposed to the old man's basic values of fidelity, courage, persistence, and respect for the wilderness. By the novel's end, the boy is more nearly a man and more ready, in his turn, to assume the role of the rancher.

In Ramon, Schaefer has created one of his most sympathetic and clearly etched characters. Ramon has...