ME AND BILLY

Possum (the only name the 12-year-old orphan has) tells his own life story and picaresque adventures with fellow orphan and best friend, Billy. The boys have lived in Deacon Smith’s Home for Waifs since their births. Billy, the protagonist, is at once charming and amoral and dreams of escaping to find endless gold. When they do flee, they encounter a charlatan who feeds them and has them work selling his medical nostrums. After the “Professor,” they meet and work with others, some upstanding and some unsavory. Billy steals a watch from someone who’s been good to them, making Possum realize that Billy will never change. So he and Billy part. Set on the western frontier of the US in the time of horse-and-buggies, the story has a light tone and is often humorous, thanks to exaggeration, but it packs a wallop of exciting adventures and plot twists. Readers will recognize the extent, as Possum does, of Billy’s character flaws, but they’ll still like him. A good read-aloud selection that may lead to discussion about likable rogues. (Fiction. 4-7)