Life is tough for thirteen-year-old Evan Green. A Hulk-like growth-and-bulk spurt has transformed his former best friend Jay into an eighth-grade superjock, while Ev is still short and skinny. And Jay now has the affections of drop-dead gorgeous Debbie who, along with Dawn, was one of the inseparable Fearsome Foursome of elementary school days. The only way Ev believes he can gain respect-and maybe even Debbie's heart-is to beat Jay in the mile event of an all-city track meet in June. While training in secret for the race, in the woods behind his house, Ev finds an ancient Indian amulet in which he can sense powerful energies. He also meets Grandfather, an elderly Native American who has returned to the woods to live in the old ways of his people. From Grandfather and the amulet, and the unexpected flowering of his relationship with Dawn, as well as a social studies course he is taking, entitled Waging Peace-at the height of the nuclear arms race and Cold War between America and Russia-Ev learns many things about the interconnected balance of all creatures on Earth, and that winning is not always the best way to succeed in a more important race-the human one