The unforgettable story of young Jethro Creighton, who comes of age during the turbulent years of the Civil War, by the Newbery Award-winning author of Up a Road Slowly. "An impressive book both as a historically authentic Civil War novel and as a beautifully written family story."--University of Chicago Center for Children's Books....

Abused by his mother and her boyfriend, Georgie Burgess learns to hide his hurt. When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a grocery store lottery, he gives it all the love and caring he has never had. His life begins to open up when the courts send him to a home for boys where he will be safe. Slowly, and not without pain, Georgie learns to give--and to receive love....

Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War....

The Newbery Award-winning novel

From the author of Across Five Aprils and No Promises in the Wind comes her most beloved story of a girl's coming of age....