Big Work — S.M.R. Saia

Fifteen-year-old James Leroy has a responsible mother that loves him, even if they don't always see eye to eye. He's never worried too much about not having a father â€" until he finds out that he does. This father has been sending money every month for James Leroy's whole life, money his paternal grandmother has been keeping from them, money that his mother knows about, and has chosen to ignore. But James Leroy is not the ignoring kind. He has big dreams like his father, and he sees the small town where he lives as an obstacle to achieving them. He feels fully justified in stealing the money back, and makes plans to use it to take off on his own. But money is not an easy answer to life's hard questions. From the moment he has the money in his hands, all of his relationships are thrown into jeopardy. And when he finally comes face to face with the father who doesn't want to have anything to do with him, James Leroy has to admit that maybe, just maybe, his mother was right. As the full story behind the robbery unfolds, James Leroy's parents are plunged back into the problems of their youth. Coming to terms with their own adolescent ghosts both clouds their judgment and hinders their ability to help their son. But James Leroy is tenacious. He's going to do the big work of growing up, even if he has to do it alone.