Publisher's Synopsis
Set in a small rural Southern town in the grip of the Great Depression, a story of two teen-age boys who work to help their mothers provide for their families. Wilson, who is white, works in a gardware store while attending high school.Sim, his colored friend, tries to be a surrogate father to his numerous brothers and sisters. Both boys find girlfriends and experience their first relationships with the opposite sex. The author gives detailed descriptions of life in the segregated South. The Ku Klux Klan becomes a factor in the courtroom scene that concludes the book.