Paul Shackleford got himself into some trouble. It began with a lie, innocent at first, that ended up being serious. His dad has decided to teach him a lesson. Mr. Shackleford says Paul has to spend the summer on a farm in rural Virginia, working as a farmhand. And Paul doesn't like it. Buried alive on a farm all summer? Just for lying to help a friend? Paul assures his dad he won't ever lie again. Why should he have to leave all his friends around the pools of Richmond and slop a bunch of hogs?

Like it or not, Paul doesn't have much choice about working on the farm --- his dad is driving him and there's no getting out of it. When they arrive at the huge farm, owned by a distant relative, Paul gets out of the car and a big, barrel-chested dog named Einstein runs up and nips his rear end. But Paul was raised to be polite --- despite his lying incident --- and he is very nice to everybody, even the dog.

He also works hard. Know what Paul's first job turns out to be? Mucking out the hog pen --- a hundred square feet of it. Then he has to tear down barbed wire fences and put them back up again. And throw bales of hay into the pickup truck under the blazing sun.

But you know what? Paul finds out his dad was right. The farmers are not dumb. Strange, maybe. They hug and kiss a six-hundred-pound pregnant sow named Vanessa. And they think they see ghosts. One ghost, actually --- the ghost of Hennley, a farmhand who hung himself (the dog who bit Paul's backside was his dog.) Paul is especially intrigued by Hennley.

Amidst all the work and the eccentricities, Paul learns many lessons --- about people, truth, loyalty, memories, and the power of words. Do words really hang in the air after they're spoken, still exercising their power? Is Hennley doing what he promised he'd do --- taking care of everybody on the farm? Will Paul really learn the lessons his father intended him to?

   --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny