Eleven year-old Joseph Victor Bibbs (better known as Jovie) has a problem. Ever since his father went missing during World War I, he and his mother have lived hand-to-mouth in a seedy attic room of a Cincinnati boarding house. Now Nellie Bibbs is ill and needs an operation. Unless Jovie can find a way to convince the Army to declare his father officially dead and release his back pay, he"ll have to go to an orphanage or else live on the streets. Terrific middle school historical fiction.