This gritty tragicomic memoir is set in one memorable year?1976, the Bicentennial, when Jimmy Carter ran for president and seven-year-old Doug Crandell lost two fingers in a farming accident. More than anything, Doug wants to shed his nickname, Pig Boy, and grow up to be a hog man like his father. His older brother Derrick reads pulp novels to him each night as he soaks his remaining fingers in Epsom salts. His brothers urge him to ?flip the Wicked Bird" any time another child makes fun of his ?lobster-red hand." Doug shares his summer of healing in Wabash, Indiana, with humans and animal