Summary

"Kenny's family is known in Flint, Michigan, as the Watsons, for lots of good reasons. Younger sister Joetta has been led to believe she has to be overdressed in the winter because Southern folks (their mother is from Alabama) freeze solid and have to be picked up by the city garbage trucks. Kenny, the narrator, does well in school and tries to meet his hardworking parents' expectations. Since the story is set in 1963, the family must make careful preparations for their trip, for they count on food or housing being available on the road once they cross into the South. the slow suspence of life has a beneficial effect on all of the children until the fateful day when a local church is bombed and Kenny runs in to look for his sister." (Novelist Review)