Aim

Gr 7 Up—A boy grappling with life-changing decisions, unlikely friendships, and what it means to be a man is at the soul of this story. Fourteen-year-old country boy Junior Bledsoe's life takes a turn for the worse when his father is found dead from drinking. The year is 1941, and news of World War II simmers in the background. Struggling to make sense of the new order of things and his place in the world, Junior yearns for respect in place of the sullied reputation his father left behind. He goes to school, labors around the farm, and does odd jobs to help pay the bills, but his cantankerous granddaddy, a newcomer to the family, doesn't recognize his worth. His father hated this man, and Junior starts to learn why. Consumed by unanswered questions surrounding his father's death, Junior begrudgingly makes friends with a boy named Catfish, and the road they take comes with trouble. But a question remains: What drove Junior's father to drink so much his last few years? The novel's historical details are so deftly intertwined with the story line that the work feels like a slice of time that has been recorded on paper. Hostetter's well-crafted turn of phrase and timely humor all add to the richness of the era.