"I wished my parents would let me get away with half the stuff the Judge let Ham get away with" (Chapter 1, p. 7).

"And next year, maybe, just maybe, our family could be happy again" (Chapter 2, p. 12).

"In the next month before school started I'd have to spend all of my time in those fields, raking in the last cuttings of hay and shucking bushel upon bushel of corn. I hoped that this year it would be worth it" (Chapter 4, p. 18).

"Admission to the game cost a nickel, and the gym, which seated at least three thousand people, was always full. I wondered how many of those nickels the players got to keep. One day I'd find out" (Chapter 6, p. 32).

"As I walked, I dribbled an imaginary basketball and wondered if I'd ever be able to take his place" (Chapter 8, p. 43).

"Some of the old-time farmers talked about their...