"You'll find there's a price to pay for this crazy dream," Aunt Louise says grimly. But no one in the Brown family can think of anything but the boat they want so much. No one minds the sacrifice or the extra work. Beanie gives up baseball cards, Dick breeds rats to sell, and Wendy works hard helping Aunt Louise in her card shop. It begins to look as if they surely will have enough money for the boat of their dreams.

Then tragedy strikes - Beanie is severely injured by a hit-and-run driver - and the family has to re-evaluate their priorities. Was Aunt Louise right after all?

"What I'll never forget," writes Wendy, "is how the thing that's been the most important thing in your life can all at once become the least important. It's not things that matter, it's people. To my family, the only important thing in the world right now it that Beanie should live."

But the story doesn't end there - there's another surprising twist or two in store for the Browns. Good coming-of-age/family story. ( )