Living up in the north woods, Perry Dubois and his dad don't see other people much. Perry's dad likes it that way, and Perry is getting used to it, too. So when Willow Pestalozzi and her large family move in nearby, Perry is not all that happy about it. For starters, Willow and her sisters ask too many nosy questions. Like, why doesn't Perry go to school? And where's his mom? And how does it feel to be an only child? But even though the Pestalozzis remind Perry of everything he wants to forget, he can't help being drawn to the generous warmth of their family. Kristine L. Franklin sends a bolt to your heart in an extraordinary novel that reveals how learning to laugh again also means being able, at last, to cry.