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Chapter 1

Richard goes hunting with his father (Pa Knight) and his brother (Gus Knight).

Richard purposely misses when he is shooting the buck, because he doesn’t like killing animals for
fun.

Pa told Richard that he didn’t need to go hunting anymore if he didn’t feel like it.

That night after supper, Richard helped his sister Angie with the chores.

He goes upstairs to his room and writes a poem.

It is seen that he keeps his collection of poems a secret.

Chapter 2

Mrs. Hansen began her English class by reading a poem titled “Trees”, that was written by Mr. Joyce
Kilmer.

One of the class bullies (Abner) tried insulting Mr. Kilmer, but Mrs. Hansen was quick to read out the
article from “The New York Times” that Mr. Kilmer is joining the Army.

Richard had found a new hero ~ he quickly jotted down the address of the editor’s office of “The
New York Times”.

Richard noticed that Hannah Schermer’s book cover had the words “Dirty Hun” scrawled all over it.
He wondered who would do such a mean thing to a nice girl like Hannah.

Richard defended Hannah and her family in a discussion with Abner, Harry and Blanche.

After Richard got home and quickly finished his chores, he wrote a letter to Mr Kilmer.

In the letter – he mentioned that he wrote his own poetry but he kept it a secret from everyone
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Chapter 3

Mrs. Hansen entered the class and told the class that the Schermers’ tavern had been vandalised
and terrible things were painted on the walls. She brought a card for the whole class to sign.

Many of the students refused to sign the card – they started insulting her – Mrs. Hansen got upset at
their remarks

Richard ended up being the only student in the entire class to sign the card

After class, Richard went to Mrs. Hansen and asked if he could deliver the card to the Schermers by
himself. Mrs. Hansen smiled and gave him the card.

On the way, Richard got confronted by the bullies (Harry & Abner). After they tried to fight him,
Richard defended himself and scared the bullies away.

Hannah reluctantly took the card from Richard when he mentioned that it might mean something to
her parents.

When Richard reached his home, Angie told Richard that he had received a letter from New York.

Chapter 4

Richard opened the letter from Mr. Kilmer and read it.

Mr. Kilmer told Richard to not be afraid and share his poems.

At dinner, Richard told his family about the letter. His family didn’t react enthusiastically. Angie
wouldn’t understand his poems; Gus and Pa said that he would grow out of the “phase”.

At school, Richard went to see Mrs. Hansen to show her the letter and some of his poems. Together,
they picked a poem to send to Mr. Kilmer

After Richard left the school building, Hannah came up to him to apologise and thank him for the
card.

On the way home, Richard saw the train full of soldiers in khaki uniforms. He wondered how they
could possibly be smiling at a time like this.
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Chapter 5

Mrs. Hansen announced that Richard is going to read the letters he received from Mr Kilmer. Some
of the boys started insulting Richard.

Richard read the letter out loud and read out the poem he had just written in honour of the soldiers
going to war.

Hannah gave a suggestion to make the last line of the poem sound better. Richard complimented
Hannah’s suggestion.

That night, Richard wrote a reply to Mr. Kilmer. Over the summer, Richard worked hard on the farm
with Pa.

One night, Richard even wrote a poem about his father.

He received a letter back from Mr. Kilmer. He was very happy that Mr. Kilmer had complimented
Hannah. However, he was too shy to go see her. Hannah was always in Richard’s thoughts.

Chapter 6

Richard and Mr. Kilmer exchanged letters throughout the summer. Richard always attached a poem
with each letter he sent.

Mr. Kilmer sent a letter saying that he had arrived in France, and was getting ready to join the battle.

Richard was worried about the war. The fighting seemed far from over, and he worried if his brother
or even himself would go fight in the war someday. He thought of his uncle’s death, and how his
father was deeply affected by it.

When school started, Mrs. Hansen announced that the class would put on a programme to help give
funds for the war and sell “Liberty Bonds”

One girl student will be chosen to play “Lady Liberty” and one boy student will be chosen to play the
“Doughboy”, an American soldier. Both students will be chosen by writing the best essays about the
topic “How We Can Help The War Efforts Right Here in Turtle Lake”.

Richard started thinking, and had an idea. All the students could write letters to the soldiers fighting
overseas. It would help them not feel lonely and homesick. He started writing his essay.

Two mean girls, Peggy and Blanche, discussed who would be chosen as Lady Liberty. They made fun
of their classmates Millie (for being so mousy) and Hannah (for being a Hun). Richard was shocked at
their comments.

After everyone turned in their essays, Mrs. Hansen announced that Richard will play the role of
Doughboy. He read his essay out loud to the class, and almost everyone clapped after he was done
(except Harry and Abner, the bullies).

Then, Mrs. Hansen announced that Hannah will play Lady Liberty. Everyone gasped. Hannah read
her essay out loud, looking nervous. She focused on the need for everyone in Turtle Lake to care
about each other, no matter the differences between them.

After Hannah finished reading, Richard was the only one who clapped for her.
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Chapter 7

Richard noticed that some students wanted to clap for Hannah too. But Harry, Abner and Peggy
were sitting with their arms crossed – scaring the other students from clapping.

The next morning, everyone at school was angrily discussing Mrs. Hansen’s choice for Lady Liberty.
There were even some angry parents that came to visit the principal’s office.

In class, Mrs. Hansen announced that Hannah had declined the role of Lady Liberty. Several students
were happy about the announcement.

At lunch break, Richard asked Hannah why she declined the role. She replied that she didn’t want to
“start a war” in Turtle Lake. It would be best for everyone if she gave the role to someone else.
Richard stood by Hannah, and said that he would decline the “Doughboy” role too.

Richard and Hannah went to go see Mrs. Hansen to tell her about Richard’s decision. Mrs. Hansen
was no longer ashamed of being American, because of her two fine students.

Richard walked Hannah home that afternoon, and he had never felt happier. Making Hannah feel
better made him feel wonderful.

The next day at school, Millie and Herbie had been chosen to play “Lady Liberty” and “Doughboy”. It
didn’t turn out to be a popularity contest – fairness had still won.

During lunch break, Hannah invited Richard to supper with her parents. Richard said yes.

Richard told his brother he won’t be home for dinner.

After school, Richard walked with Hannah back to her house. He met her parents there, who were
warm and friendly to him.

While waiting for dinner, Mr. Schermer chatted with Richard about poetry. During dinner, Mr. and
Mrs. Schermer discussed many interesting things about their lives.

After dinner and dessert, everyone went to the parlour to listen to music. When dusk arrived,
Richard was sad to leave but happy because Hannah’s parents said he was always welcome.
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Chapter 8

Richard’s father chats with Richard about his decision to not be in the play. His father lectured him
about siding with the Schermers, and how that meant he wasn’t standing with the other people in
the town.

Richard’s father said that Richard’s poetry is filling his mind with foolish ideas. Richard became sad
after hearing this.

As fall continued, Richard was still unpopular with the other students, but becoming closer to
Hannah. He also visited the Schermers’ house often.

In January, Richard received a sad letter from Mr. Kilmer, he wrote about missing his family and
being gloomy. Hannah’s family decided to send him a care package to cheer him up.

Mr. Kilmer wrote back later that the package made him very happy.

In spring, Richard’s history teacher taught the class about the battles that were happening. The small
hope everyone had was in President Wilson’s peace plan (which was to build a League of Nations)

In late May, the war news suddenly got much better. Everyone was in a great mood, just in time for
the end-of-term picnic. The students walked to a nearby meadow, while Richard and Hannah sat
under a large elm tree and ate together. He asked Hannah to tell him about New York.

Richard and Hannah suddenly got upset thinking about the war. Richard decided to carve his and her
initials in a tree, when Hannah suddenly got hit in the ankle by a stone with the word “Hun” on it.

Chapter 9

Richard and his father were cleaning the barn when Gus came to announce that he had enlisted in
the army. This upset Pa very much, and he scolded Gus before leaving angrily.

When Gus tried to say goodbye to Pa, Pa didn’t respond. Gus left quietly and Richard was scared of
never seeing his brother again.

Richard and Angie discussed Pa’s bitter mood these days, and Angie said he was worried about Gus.

Between working at the farm, Richard spent time with the Schermers often to distract him from his
family problems. He also continued to work on poems.

After receiving a letter from Mr. Kilmer and responding immediately, Richard received the sad news
from Hannah that Mr. Kilmer had been killed in battle.
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Chapter 10

The Schermers gave him a copy of the newspaper, and Richard read the story of how Mr. Kilmer
passed away.

He hastily thanked the Schermers and quickly ran to somewhere he could cry by himself. He went
home and wrote a poem titled “In Memory of Sergeant Joyce Kilmer”.

After sharing the poem with the Schermers, they encouraged him to take it to the newspaper office
to be printed and shared with everyone in Turtle Lake.

On Thursday, the poem was printed in the newspaper. Pa called out to Richard, and finally told him
the story of his brother who passed away in battle, Roland.

After reading the poem and seeing Pa’s reaction, both Pa and Richard finally understood why
Richard wrote poems.

The war finally ended. Richard and his family laughed about Gus being in the army for a long time,
but were also thankful the danger was over. Hannah’s brother Otto also returned from the war.

As winter came closer, Richard divided his time between school, the farm, and spending time with
the Schermers, especially Hannah.

Richard’s poetry could be regularly seen in the newspaper, and since it was usually about farm life –
Pa helped Richard to make the poems better, and sometimes Pa just smiled and said it was a good
poem.