A Blue-Eyed Daisy - Cynthia Rylant - Bog

an amazing year
Ellie Farley''s father, Okey, drinks too much, mostly because he hasn''t been able to work since he was injured in a mining accident. He hasn''t been able to hunt, either, so it''s strange when he brings home a hunting dog, a beagle named Bullet.
But Bullet is only the first odd thing that happens to Ellie the year she''s eleven. She sees a favorite uncle go off to war; a boy in her class has a fit in the middle of geography and another is accidentally killed while target shooting; and Okey drives his Chevy pickup off the mountain, with near-tragic consequences. But still Ellie manages the ordinary pleasures of making a best friend and getting kissed for the first time -- it''s no wonder she confides to Bullet on her twelfth birthday, "Some year."