In 1968, Doug Sweiteck, a fourteen-year-old skinny thug and prankster, seems to have everything stacked against him.
His alcoholic father beats his family. And— Surprise! Surprise! Pops just lost his job again. Forced to move to stupid Marysville, Doug is without a single friend. His mother is okay but ineffectual against dad. She's just trying to keep the family together. His mean older brother is in Vietnam, and the next brother is a real bully.
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Then, in front of the library, he meets Lil Spencer, a fiery girl who challenges him at every turn. He enters the library—a first for him—and upstairs finds a book containing plates of the original illustrations of John James Audubon. When Mr. Powell, the librarian, sees Doug’s interest in the drawings, he realizes that Doug is a hidden artist, and begins teaching Doug to draw.
Doug slowly starts to thaw.
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