River Rats — Leslie J. Wyatt

The novel is set in 1940s rural Missouri, just as the shadow of World War 2 looms in the background. The story is from the point of view of 12 year old Kenny, who with his older brother and friends roam the countryside and hang out together in the bottoms of the Chariton River. Trouble comes with the arrival of a new boy, Henry Nichols, who is "a thin stick of a person, looking like a half-starved hound...and not like us." Can he join the River Rats? Kenny's big brother, Jim, is a bully and tries everything he can to humiliate and hurt the new boy who doesn't even go to school he so poor. Kenny has to risk losing the friendship of his own brother by doing what, deep down, he knows is right. The book tackles head-on the choices he faces.