The Geoffrey Bilson Award Winner by Christopher Paul Curtis! The Journey of Little Charlie joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content! Twelve-year-old Charlie is down on his luck: His sharecropper father just died and Cap'n Buck -- the most fearsome man in Possum Moan, South Carolina -- has come to collect a debt. Fearing for his life, Charlie strikes a deal with Cap'n Buck and agrees to track down some folks accused of stealing from the cap'n and his boss. It's not too bad of a bargain for Charlie... until he comes face-to-face with the fugitives and discovers their true identities. Torn between his guilty conscience and his survival instinct, Charlie needs to figure out his next move -- and soon. It's only a matter of time before Cap'n Buck catches on. Newbery Medalist Christopher Paul Curtis brings his trademark humor and heart to this story of a boy struggling to do right in the face of history's cruelest evils. Praise for the Buxton Chronicles: "Curtis is a master at balancing the serious and the lighthearted." -- New York Times Book Review , on Elijah of Buxton * "A fine, original novel from a gifted storyteller." -- Booklist , starred review, on Elijah of Buxton "Curtis deftly makes what might have been simply heart-rending hopeful and redeeming instead... a pleasure to read." -- New York Times Book Review , on The Madman of Piney Woods * "A journey of revelation and insight... profoundly moving yet also at times very funny." -- Horn Book Magazine , starred review, on The Madman of Piney Woods Christopher Paul Curtis was awarded both a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor for his debut book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 , and won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for his second book, Bud, Not Buddy . Mr. Curtis is also the author of the Golden Kite Award-winning Bucking the Sarge , as well as Mr. Chickee's Funny Money , Mr. Chickee's Messy Mission , and the Newbery Honor book Elijah of Buxton .