At her aunt and uncle's farm in the summer of 1958, 12-year-old Dawn and her new friend Charlotte create their own private world: Planet Kid. Away from whiny brothers and nosy neighbor boys, they pass one carefree day after another. But as dark secrets from the adult world creep into Planet Kid, Dawn must make some tough choices-choices that could mean life or death for her friend. In this moving, insightful novel, Newbery Honor author Jane Leslie Conly captures both the innocent simplicity and the haunting complexity of growing up.
Maxine, short and stocky, with her dark glasses and strange hat and weaving walk, was called the "crazy lady." Ronald, with his eyes open wide and his mouth always parted as if he were about to speak, was her son with special needs. Vernon and his friends would agitate them until they put on a kind of show.
But then Vernon gets to know them and see what their life is really like. He spends an afternoon helping them straighten out their ramshackle house, picking up their littered yard; and sits with Ronald while he watches "Lassie" and "Mickey Mouse Club." And he begins to understand this mother's fierce love for her son, his own loss, and the unexpected strength he finds within this odd little family.
