Eleven-year-old Ned is consumed by guilt after he accidently shoots a stray cat with an air rifle his father has forbidden him to use. The longer Ned keeps his guilt a secret, the greater a burden it becomes to him until he finds that he has to share it with someone. Marvelously restrained prose gives power to a carefully crafted novel set in the 1920s which unfolds as an honest revelation of human complexity. Winner, 1984 CCBC Newbery Discussion. (Age 12 and older)

A Newbery Honor Book and Winner of the Christopher Award: A young boy fires a forbidden rifle—and must face the consequences.

Ned Wallis's minister father made him promise not to touch the rifle until he turns fourteen. But the eleven-year-old can't resist sneaking outside and trying it out, just once. Ned takes aim, and fires—just as a dark shadow passes in front of him. When he looks up, a flickering face passes across the attic window. Someone was watching.

When a feral cat appears outside the house of an elderly neighbor, with dried blood on its matted fur and a missing eye, Ned begins to wonder: Could he have shot this animal that night? Full of guilt and terrified that his secret will come out, Ned starts caring for the one-eyed cat. But will he be able to come clean about his broken promise and the shot in the dark?

Spring brings the chance for redemption and a surprising revelation from an unexpected source in this New York Times Outstanding Children's Book of the Year.