Wringer is the story of Palmer LaRue, a boy living in a small town named Waymer, which hosts an annual Family Fest. The culmination of the event is a Pigeon Shoot, where five thousand pigeons are shot for fundraising efforts to maintain the city's park. The book derives its title from the name given to the young boys who wring the necks of the pigeons who are only wounded, not killed, from the gunshots. Palmer witnesses this spectacle for the first time when he is four-years-old and the memory of the captive birds being killed for sport still haunts him.

Although it is considered an honor to become a wringer on your tenth birthday, Palmer dreads the day because of his horror of the event. Palmer is an exceptionally sensitive only child who finds it difficult to make friends. So when the local bullies named Beans...