The Goat Driver

The second book in a series, The Goat Driver, is a story of the enduring power of trust. Now distant from the family dysfunction in Washington State, fourteen-year-old Kyle arrives alone in Minnesota to spend the summer with his grandfather, Papa Louie.But Louie sees withdrawn vacancy in Kyle's eyes, and after having lost a friend named Maurey to suicide, Louie believes his grandson is following the same path. When Kyle won't talk to him, Louie rallies the support of his young neighbor, Tuck Taylor, to intervene.Tuck, a trustworthy but somewhat lost soul, quickly takes a liking to the boy and then makes a well-meaning, but difficult promise to Louie that he'll never let Kyle jump like Maurey did. The difficult promise then becomes an obsession that changes Tuck's life forever.Through Tuck, Kyle is able to learn for the first time how to discern a bully from an ally and how finally to trust a true friend, but at what cost? By drawing Kyle into his life, Tuck has drawn himself into Kyle's, and by the end of the summer, he discovers that by saving Kyle, he becomes the one who needs saving.