Kay Avery whose ee Willow Whistle won the 1947 Herald Tribune award, makes an exciting and realistic story from a boy's everyday adventures in a small Vermont town. The boy is Tom Hayes. He's in the eighth grade and what he wants most in the world is a horse to ride. His problems are that he has no funds and no horse to buy even if he had the money. Absolutely sure a horse will turn up, Tom gets a job at Mr. Jones' store and there meets another problem- Andy- his own age and a far more determined boy who wants the Job too. Working with Andy, but in open rivalry, Tom's suspicions of him as a thief of Mr. Jones' goods begin to mount until the climax proves the suspicions oddly responsible for detecting the real thieves. Tom and Andy become friends then and the following spring, a cousin of Andy's who is a veterinarian, turns up with a dream horse to sell.