The Alfred Summer

The friendship began when Lester saved Alfred's life. Well, he didn't save Alfred's life, but for a 14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, pointing to the danger and waving your arms is about as close as you get. And it doesn't matter to Lester that Alfred is mentally retarded. He's the same on the inside as he is on the outside. Lester and Alfred meet up with Myron and Claire, two other misunderstood adolescents who don't want to conform to the social norm. Together, they build a "getaway boat", and discover in the process that there are many levels of heroism and many definitions of "special". An important and powerful novel about young people coming to terms with and overcoming their limitations, picked by School Library Journal as one of the One Hundred Books that Shaped a Century. Realistic Fiction