Delrita goes through school trying not to be noticed. She doesn't have any friends and she likes it that way. That means no one coming to her house after school and no one making fun of her uncle Punky. Punky has Down's syndrome. He is thirty-five years old but has the mind of a young child. Delrita doesn't want people to laugh at him or tease him. So she prefers to stay at home with her family and work on her wood carvings.
Suddenly something terrible happens, and Delrita's life turns upside down. S he finds herself looking for friends she turned away before. Her life is changing. She does begin to make friends and so does Punky. But everybody has their secrets, and when Delrita's new friend's secret is discovered, Delrita finds herself more alone than ever.
This book was a real tear jerker, we read it in sixth grade with my social studies teacher (not for a social studies class though, obviously), and I wasn't expecting it to be good. But from the minute that I opened that book I could hardly put it down to go to my next class, it's about a girl whose Uncle is mentally handicapped, and it's her story of how life is. She can't bring home any friends without him scaring them off, and she can't live a normal life because of him; but she loves him undoubtedly. If reading this book, be ready to cry, and to laugh, because the times they have together is what caught me onto this book.
