As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no
friends and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has
all the stats stacked against him. So begins a coming-of-age
masterwork full of equal parts comedy and tragedy from
Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt. As Doug struggles to
be more than the “skinny thug” that his teachers and the
police think him to be, he finds an unlikely ally in Lil
Spicer—a fiery young lady who “smelled like daisies would
smell if they were growing in a big field under a clearing
sky after a rain.” In Lil, Doug finds the strength to endure
an abusive father, the suspicions of a whole town, and the
return of his oldest brother, forever scarred, from Vietnam.
Together, they find a safe haven in the local library,
inspiration in learning about the plates of John James
Audubon’s birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway
stage. In this stunning novel, Schmidt expertly weaves
multiple themes of loss and recovery in a story teeming with
distinctive, unusual characters and invaluable lessons about
love, creativity, and survival.
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