1953: Eisenhower becomes President. The Korean War finally ends in a stalemate. Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of Great Britain. Stalin dies. Mt. Everest is climbed for the first time. And in Morrisonville, Oregon, Alec Lewis discovers girls - though at the age of eleven he's not quite sure what to do about it. Challenged by his autn to keep a journal of the year, Alec begins by recording the news and ends up by making it. He also begins working as a paperboy for the Oregon Journal, defences his titla s the best stretch and mumbltypeg player in sixth grade and tries to figure out why girls act the way they do.
  A chance decision to help one girl recite a poem for Armistice Day leads Alec into a series of increasingly wile adventures as he befriends first the rich but terribly shy and insecure Mary Alice and then the dirt-poor, happy-go-lucky Bonnybelle. Finally Alec must answer the ultimate question: Will he put his own life on the line to save a friend?