In language reminiscent of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and COLD SASSY TREE, ten-year old Jen Crocker chronicles such wild escapades as shoot-outs and lock-ups at the Shelby County Courthouse, a brief foray into fountain-pen thievery at Green's Drugstore, and the execution of an Olympic-quality swan-dive...in her Easter dress. Lurking as a backdrop to her adventures are such antagonistic forces as her sister's Eddie Haskel-type boyfriend and Mrs. Gravitts, her teacher, whose daunting paddle frenzies and ever-chomping false teeth extract from Jen both her worst and her best. By the beginning of sixth grade it looks as if she might just manage to stay out of jail, thanks to the Great Whisperer's employment of an unlikely new best friend, a merciful county judge, a wise old aunt, and her aggravatingly saintly but unswervingly faithful big sister, Julie.