Mitch MacLeod may be the smallest kid in grade six, but he has a great sense of humor and a strong backbone. He can read, sometimes, but never at school when he has to. and "You don't know what humiliation is until you have a grade one reading buddy who reads better than you do, and " he says. But things start to change for Mitch when he creates an opportunity to stand up to Philip, his arch-enemy, when his reading begins to improve, and when his dad, and "The Creep, and " moves back to town.