Crossing the Meadow

Chip McArcher, about to head into the fifth grade, is having a difficult summer. He's suffered the loss of a beloved pet. His father is away from home on business most of the time. And two neighborhood bullies have cornered him into meeting a frightening challenge: he must cross the neighborhood meadow after dark, alone, without the aid of a flashlight, or suffer humiliation at the start of the next school year.Meanwhile, in the next neighborhood, Gwendolyn, a girl his age who has seen Chip only in passing, is also having a terrible vacation. Her father has aban-doned the family, her mother is not well, and she will soon be having to move from their beautiful house into a mobile home in a new neighborhood. A chance meeting with Chip proves to be fateful for both, as he prepares to risk his life in the meadow, and she faces losing her place in the world.