Twelve-year-old Samantha Sam likes to memorize fun and weird facts, like the size of the largest bubble-gum bubble blown through the nose or how jelly gets into a donut. Sam doesnt like being teased by that irritating boy Billy Burnham or the fact that she has to spend four long weeks at her grandparents farm this summer! Sam loves her grandmother, but her prickly grandfather, a.k.a The Colonel, is another story. Sam has never had an easy relationship with him and now that the Colonel has retired from the military he is worse than ever! But Sams grandfather is being secretive and acting strangely even for him. He keeps disappearing into the woods for long stretches of time and wont let Sam go into the old barn. Finally with the help of Billy, Sam decides to follow the Colonel to see exactly what it is he is up to. Narrated by the voice of an adolescent girl and filtered through her perceptions, author Kathleen Benner Duble skillfully mines the depth and complexity of human relationships and what happens when dreams, once deferred, may finally be realized
