Summary

The Prologue is a newspaper article dated April 18, 1986. The article describes the discovery of a young boy living alone in the Ramapo Mountain State Forrest near Westville, New Jersey. The boy, who was estimated to be between the ages of six and eight, knew how to speak English, but did not know his name. He did not remember any adults ever being with him. He did not know how long he had been living in the woods. Oren Carmichael, a police deputy at the time, among the officers who handled the case.

In Chapter 1, which is set 34 years later and is told in the present tense, focuses on a girl, Naomi Pine, who is bullied by her classmates. The boys throw things, including spit wads, at her. She ignores them. The bullying has been going on for so long that the teachers...