Chris is an insecure boy who, after an encounter with a 203-year-old bookworm, begins developing his self-confidence; he does things the wrong way: derrierewards, frontwards, upside down, inside out, etc.

A wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

A teenage boy is torn between his love for an injured Canadian goose that he has found and his agreement to fatten and kill it for an approaching Thanksgiving dinner for his neighbors.