Age Group: 9 - 12 Years, 12+ Years

Description:

It's 1968, and fourteen-year-old Doug Swieteck has just moved to a small town on Long Island, dragging along a bad reputation, an abusive father, and the belief — shared by nearly every adult around him — that he's worthless. But in his new home Doug stumbles onto unexpected lifelines: a public library where the breathtaking bird plates of John James Audubon awaken a hidden talent for drawing, a sharp, warm-hearted girl named Lil Spicer who actually likes him, and a deli job that pulls him into the life of the town. As his eldest brother returns broken from Vietnam and old wounds resurface, Doug slowly discovers that he might be more than the "skinny thug" everyone assumes. A National Book Award finalist, this book is a moving, funny, deeply human coming-of-age story about art, friendship, and survival.