In the early 1950s, fourteen year old Danny Norman searches for his missing father while fighting terminal illness from cystic fibrosis. He is talented at winning knock-knock joke contests. Among the prizes are a refrigerator, Circus peanuts, Sweetheart soap, Campbell's soup, three pairs of nylon stocking, and a canary in a gold-colored cage. There is a cast of characters that include his Jewish grandparents that immigrated from Russia, his mother that is having an affair with the Rabbi she hopes can cure him, and cousin Jessamyn, who he runs away with, only to run into the Prickly Pears motorcycle gang.

The tragedy of terminal illness and the distance people will go to either ignore or work to stop death. ( )