All thirteen-year old Nita Simmons has ever wanted is to be a journalist, but when she flubs a piece for her middle school newspaper she becomes a laughingstock at school and risks losing her coveted membership to the Junior Journalists Club. Nita's confidence is at an all-time low when Earl Melvin, her reclusive neighbor and the town's most notorious criminal--picks that day to speak to her. Mr. Melvin offers Nita a story--some old books he refers...