Palmer turns nine and Beans, Mutto, and Henry arrive at his birthday party with rotten gifts, naming him Snots.

Palmer endures The Treatment from Farquar, receiving nine punches without screaming.

Palmer's father presents him with the family's cherished toy soldiers heirloom on his ninth birthday.

Palmer cries alone that night, realizing he has only one year left before he is expected to become a wringer.

Palmer witnesses his first Family Fest pigeon shooting and watches a boy wring the neck of a wounded bird.

Beans leads the boys through the dark to the railroad station where 5,000 pigeons sit caged.

Palmer stays in bed pretending to be sick to avoid watching the Family Fest pigeon shooting.

A pigeon appears at Palmer's window during a blizzard and keeps returning despite being shooed away.

The pigeon hops inside Palmer's open window, nips his ear, and Palmer names the bird Nipper.

Nipper lands on Palmer's head in front of the boys, and Beans declares the bird belongs to Palmer.

Beans drags Palmer to wringer school, where learning to wring necks makes Palmer feel four years old again.

Palmer discovers the word TONIGHT etched into his birthday cake icing as a hidden warning.

Palmer refuses The Treatment and shouts he will never be a wringer or answer to the name Snots, then runs away.

Palmer rushes home to find Beans's cat Panther on his bed and realizes Nipper can no longer safely stay.

Palmer dives onto the pigeon-shooting field to cover Nipper with his body, then carries his bird safely out of the crowd.

Palmer LaRue turns nine and is thrilled when the toughest boys on the street accept him, nicknaming him Snots and marking him with the painful town tradition known as The Treatment. His father caps the birthday by trusting him with the family toy soldiers heirloom, but that night Palmer cries alone, knowing he has only one year before he is expected to become a wringer. His dread deepens when he recalls watching his first pigeon die at Family Fest, and it grows worse when the boys drag him to the railroad station at night to taunt 5,000 caged birds. Everything changes when a stray pigeon begins appearing at his window during a blizzard, hops inside, and becomes his beloved pet Nipper. After Beans exposes the secret, wringer school begins, and a birthday-night warning pushes Palmer to finally refuse The Treatment, declare he will never be a wringer, and break with the boys for good. The story ends with Palmer diving onto the shooting field to shield Nipper with his own body and walking away with his bird in his arms.

Palmer's journey from dreading wringerhood to saving Nipper on the shooting field.

The boys leave mud on Dorothy's front door after Palmer's birthday party while Palmer runs laughing with them.

At the park, the boys act out a pigeon-wringing scene and Palmer runs away from the disturbing pantomime.

Palmer's father calls him big guy and seems quietly proud when he sees the Treatment bruise on his arm.

Dorothy tells Palmer thanks for inviting me to your party when he shows her his Treatment bruise.

Palmer takes young Dorothy to her first pigeon shooting and cruelly describes the deaths to her until she runs away.

Palmer and Dorothy quietly retreat to the park swings together to avoid watching the pigeon shooting.

Arthur Dodds grabs a wounded pigeon that escapes into the Family Fest crowd and wrings its neck, beaming with pride.

On a family vacation, Palmer sees a man in a big-city park sitting peacefully covered in pigeons he is feeding.

Beans pulls a frozen dead muskrat from his freezer, microwaves it, and nails the carcass to Dorothy's front door.

Beans and the boys spot a pigeon flying near Palmer's house, and Palmer lies claiming he has never seen it there.

Beans turns ten years old and eagerly announces he cannot wait to become a wringer.

Palmer tells Dorothy about Nipper in secret and admits out loud for the first time that he never wants to be a wringer.

Dorothy does not appear at Palmer's tenth birthday party, though Beans and the boys arrive and bond with his father over shooting.

Palmer spends the birthday night crouched behind the living room couch, holding Nipper tightly in his hands until morning.

Palmer and Dorothy ride Nipper far out of town in a basket on her bicycle and release the bird into the open air.

After Palmer's ninth birthday, his new friends immediately target his former neighbor Dorothy with mockery and vandalism, while his father's pride over the Treatment bruise shows Palmer what the town expects of its boys. Dorothy keeps her distance, and Palmer gets a glimpse of his own cruelty through memories of dragging her to her first pigeon shooting and the time she and he retreated together to the swings to escape the carnage. As the year progresses, Beans escalates his bullying of Dorothy with the muskrat prank, while his discovery of Nipper's existence puts the bird in constant danger. Palmer confides in Dorothy about Nipper and finally admits out loud that he never wants to be a wringer, forming the closest friendship of his life. On his tenth birthday Dorothy does not appear, the boys do, and Palmer spends the night hiding with Nipper before ultimately riding the bird far out of town in a basket on Dorothy's bicycle and setting him free.

The cruelty toward Dorothy, the boys' escalating threats, and Nipper's release from town.

Palmer's father explains that shooter fees pay for the town park, saying Palmer can thank a pigeon for the playground swings.

Palmer dreams of being lifted toward the sun by pigeons, then wakes to find Beans and the boys standing in his dark bedroom.

Palmer feeds the pigeon cereal through his open window and realizes with alarm that he is thinking of it as his own.

The pigeon roosts in Palmer's closet on top of the toy soldiers box, and Palmer asks his mother to knock before entering his room.

Palmer visits the library and reads books about pigeons, surprised to discover how much there is to learn about them.

Palmer steers Beans and the boys away from his house each time they suggest visiting by redirecting them toward Dorothy.

During Treestumping, Dorothy asks Palmer directly why are you doing this to me, and he suddenly sees her as a person rather than a target.

Nipper fails to appear at Palmer's window one night, and Palmer connects the bird's absence to the pain he has caused Dorothy.

Palmer decides to get into trouble at school every day as a deliberate strategy to avoid walking home alongside the boys.

Palmer's mother casually mentions that a large cat was found inside their house, and Palmer realizes Beans sent Panther after Nipper.

Beans arrives at Palmer's door the morning after his birthday holding a basketball with Nipper's name on it and demanding answers.

Palmer's mother confesses that she and his father have always known about Nipper, and Palmer falls into her arms with relief.

Palmer lets Henry into his empty room to prove Nipper is gone and learns for the first time that Henry's real name is George.

Palmer and his father arrange the toy soldiers in one final battle formation together before Palmer buries them in the backyard.

Dorothy reveals she released Nipper near the railroad tracks, and Palmer realizes the bird may be among those caged for the shoot.

Palmer's understanding of the pigeon shooting begins to crack when his father explains that shooter money funds the park, a justification that never sits right with him, and the crack widens when he wakes from a pigeon nightmare to find the boys looming in his dark bedroom. Nipper's arrival triggers a chain of quiet revelations: Palmer secretly feeds the bird, lets it roost in his room, and sneaks to the library to learn everything he can about pigeons, all while steering the boys away from his house. The turning point in his friendship with Dorothy comes when she stops being a target and becomes a person again during a cruel game, and Nipper's first unexplained absence forces Palmer to connect his cruelty toward her with his own capacity for harm. A series of confrontations follow: his mother's casual mention of a cat inside the house, Beans arriving with a basketball bearing Nipper's name, and then his mother's tearful confession that she and his father always knew about the bird. Palmer releases his grip on the past by burying the toy soldiers and later learns from Dorothy that Nipper was freed near the very railroad tracks where the shooting pigeons are collected, setting up the novel's climax.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that reshape Palmer's courage and convictions.

Jerry Spinelli

Novel

Fiction

Guide