The Newbery Award-winning author of Across Five Aprils and Up a Road Slowly presents the story of a young boy from a troubled family who learns what it means to love...

Abused by his mother and her boyfriend, Georgie Burgess learns to hide his hurt. He withdraws into a safe and secret world of beautiful gardens filled with roses--just like those in the library book he treasures.

When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a grocery store lottery he gives it all the love and caring he's never had. Georgie's life begins to open up for him when the courts send him to a home for boys where he will be safe. Slowly, and not without pain, Georgie learns to give--and to receive--love...