Fourteen-year-old Kevin is a hard worker, so when his income is cut off he begins a series of businesses, from poker games to selling snacks, earning money to take a girl to a dance, but his partners soon tire of his methods.

Farm life is defined by work, and the work, in turn, is defined by nature: seaon to season, dawn to dusk. Gary Paulsen knows this well, and in 'Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass' he sends his readers on an unsentimental journey to a place where simplicity and sweat are understood and appreciated. The days are long, the work uncesing, the machinery treacherous, yet Paulsen manages to find goodness and grace in the simplest chore -- Cover, page [4].

"Kevin has a big talent. Some might call it compulsive lying. He calls it common sense. Kev doesn't mean to cause trouble by lying all the time; he's just trying to make everything easier for everyone (and himself). And, of course, a few harmless, um, falsehoods are crucial to his plan to convince Tina that he's the perfect boyfriend for her ..."--Container.