Former Nye County teacher Kevin Roberts publishes youth novel after 20 years

Kevin Roberts spent decades teaching reading, writing and language arts in Nye County classrooms. Now the former school district educator has finished a book of his own, and students in the same system can check it out for themselves.

Roberts completed The Old Man on the Mountain in September 2025 after working on the novel for more than 20 years. The youth-oriented fiction centers on Kate Walker, a determined girl in rural Nevada, and her horse, Rowdy. Public book listings describe the story as following two young girls who persuade their mother to look at a horse destined for slaughter, with the mother’s reaction tied to a figure from her childhood.

That personal thread is part of what gives the novel its local appeal. Roberts said he wanted to write a wholesome book that today’s youth would enjoy, and he drew on both his own childhood and his daughter’s experiences to shape the story. The result is a book rooted in Nevada life rather than a generic coming-of-age adventure.

The title reaches into the landscape that surrounds Pahrump and southern Nevada. Roberts took it from a granite rock formation in the Spring Mountains that can resemble an old man from certain angles and in certain light. In the novel, that place becomes a sacred burial ground where characters trail ride, seek solitude and connect with the natural world.

The setting may resonate far beyond one family story. The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area spans 317,000 acres in Clark and Nye counties, was established by Congress in 1993 and draws more than a million visitors each year. For a county as spread out as Nye, where the school district says it covers about 18,000 square miles and is among the largest in the United States, a locally written book tied to a familiar mountain range carries unusual reach.

Roberts’ novel is now available through Nye County School District libraries, including Rosemary Clarke Middle School, 4201 N. Blagg Road in Pahrump, where he taught for many years. That means students do not have to hear about the book in theory. They can pull it off a shelf in the same community where Roberts spent years teaching them how to read and write.