Thirteen-year-old Simon feels his devoutly religious father is too strict with him and the rest of the family, but during the year his mother is in the sanitarium, Simon learns to understand both himself and his father.
"Ida Early is as tall as the tales she tells, a gangly scarecrow who comes to the rural Georgia home of widower Mr. Sutton during the Depression years. Her offer to help out for a spell delights the four Sutton children and their father ... and life becomes a three-ring circus for the kids."--Publishers Weekly. An ALA Notable Book