By mentioning that a treat for Pascal was an uneaten biscuit his mother picked up from the Master's plate, that he slept in a shanty with six other people, or that no one had hugged him since his mother's death, Robinet brings the reader face to face with the realities of plantation life from which Pascal escapes. Robinet is at her best describing rural environments. At a campsite among the trees, for example, she surrounds the children with "the gurgle of the ditch," "mosquito whines and cricket chirps."

She writes that "sunbeams danced on their faces, and the scent of broken pine branch spiced the air." Robinet makes Gideon's parcel of land seem like an Eden. "Winddancing willows" line the lake and creek.

"Grass and wildflowers blanketed the land.

Meadowlarks flashed yellow feathers, singing as they flew across the flowers. Redwinged blackbirds called from cat-nine-tails at the creek...