It's the Great Depression of the 1930s........

America is struggling, but kids in the nation's urban centers still have their imaginative street games, their city adventures and their hilarious scrapes with friends and foes alike.

The Bronx, in New York City, is Willie's playground, and 174th Street is his crucible. It's here that he laughs and cries and looks to his family for the courage he needs to meet his daily challenges. Can he face the hostility of belligerent "Spit" Goldblatt? His brother Gerald is sure he can! Can he survive his school play, with knees shaking in terror? His mother Rose guarantees he can! Can he endure the heart-pounding nearness of scintillating Teddy Horowitz? Only God knows the answer to that!

Days are very bad in the Great Depression, but for Willie Mittleman and the Mittleman clan life can still be good, proving, once again, that laughter and love will always be the life-saving forces to rescue us from adversity and pain.