Events unfold through the eyes of Marsh, an average twelve-year-old. His life is contentedly ordinary: in summer his hours are filled up with chores and fishing; in the winter his days are given to school and his evenings to skating. Sometimes he likes the roughand-tumble of the hockey rink; at other times he likes to skate-dance with Shirley who, because she makes his knees hurt and gives him a stomach ache, seems destined to be his true love. At home Mom and Dad provide food, shelter, and—upon request— doses of ordinary adult wisdom about life's little problems.

He shares everything with his best friend Willy Taylor: making model airplanes, whispering about their teachers' private lives, thinking about the towns, states, and country beyond McKinley, talking about girls, and marveling at how weird ice is. Marsh and Willy inhabit a comfortable, narrow...