Eleven-year-old Allister McRuer's fears materialize when he and his
family arrive at their Manitoba pioneer homestead in 1892. What could make
it worse? Being called Allis.

During the trip from Lachute, Quebec to Cherry Creek, Manitoba, Allister
shares a train boxcar with three of his brothers and all of their family's
livestock. The closer he gets to the homestead his father and oldest
brother, John, started three years ago, the worse Allister's misery gets as
older brother, Will, torments Allister by calling him "Allis," a name he
...