Billy in the Lowground - Wilson S.E

The Mark Twain YA Novel of the year.....

The vast blue sky .. an endless flow of pristine waters .. Summer days that seem to never end. All of this belongs to Scotlin Bright, who gallops from one adventure to another without a thought for tomorrow. We should leave tomorrow to the grownups. Scotlin owns the day today.

His favorite summer activity is running trot-lines on the Stream River, eating fried fish, and playing his uncle Roz's fiddle. Despite Roz's claim that the war was nothing great, he never tires of hearing stories about his uncle's time in France during the Great War.

He is soon forced to leave the river to work his father's farm, and worse yet, to face the prospect of going to high school in the fall. The boy bows his neck and demands to stay with Uncle Roz on the river. Who would trade paradise for endless work, year after year?

Ultimately, Scotlin learns that life is not a playground, that fairness isn't part of growing up, and that even death is always closer than it seems.