"This story makes you believe in the love and laughter and friendship that give you hope in the worst of times" ( Booklist ). Thirteen-year-old Shanta Cola Morgan is an orphan who lives with her grandmother and her bedridden Uncle Louie. It isn't exactly a typical family like other kids have. But during the scary summer of 1945, as World War II rages overseas and new neighbors move in across the street, hard times and conflict creep into Shanta's life as stealthily as kudzu in the Georgia countryside. As Shanta, her grandmother, and Louie dig deep to keep love and humor in their home, Shanta learns how a family sustains each other - and discovers the painful truth that there are worse things than not having parents . . .