This is a novel of both pathos and humor. The protagonist, “Junior” Carter, is eleven-years-old and frightened by his erratic and violent father who suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of his experience fighting in World War II. Junior seeks solace in the woods that surrounds his rural West Virginia home. The author, Karl Stewart, left rural West Virginia as a teenager, served in the Green Berets, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin. He taught high school English and Social Studies, and is now retired and living in rural Wisconsin.