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by C. J. Wellumson (Author)
When Nate finds the runaway orphan, Lotty Pickle, hiding in his grandparents' cornfield, he has two choices...risk his own safety to keep her hidden, or collect the cash reward.
Nate Martin's long summer visit to his grandparents' Ozark Mountains farm will soon be over. He's ready to be home. When walking into town, he discovers Loty- alone, close to his age, covered in bug bites, and scared. He has no idea what she's running from, but one thing begins to change-his summer adventure is just getting started.
Fourteen years of life as a middle-class white kid in Minnesota never prepared Nate for the kinds of dangers a young negro girl like Lotty faces in 1958 Arkansas. Their unlikely friendship will change his world. Keeping her hidden in his grandpa's barn is easy enough, but what happens to her when he returns home?
Recent school desegregation laws are adding fuel to already hateful fires of racial tension. Nate learns those in his local circle only see Lotty as trouble. When discovering a family of real, all-too-human monsters is hunting her, his heart and mind scream, "Enough." Finding her a safe place now leads him.
Lotty may not exactly be the girl next door, nor is Nate some would-be heroic knight, but they're determined to face their dangerous situation with courage, ready always to run or fight. Soon enough, they'll have to do both.
