MY BROTHER STEVIE

How it is to feel responsible for a younger brother who plays hockey and throws rocks at trains, who clowns to attract attention and feel liked; to know your father is dead and your mother has left for good and your grandma scolds but doesn't understand --told with simple unaffected candor by twelve-year-old Annie, a city project child. From Stevie's new teacher, Miss Stover, and Miss Stover's foster mother , she gets an inkling of her own potential strength and the reasons for Grandma's ineffectual harshness; from spending a happy day in the country with the large foster family, she gets a memory of ""something different...I thought I'd write this down because... this way I won't forget."" Children who listen to Annie's confidences won't forget either.