At the beginning of this high-spirited novel of the American West, a seven-year-old boy on an Apache Indian reservation in Arizona has his head run over by a mail truck. But this is no tragedy, for not only does Edgar survive the accident--he maintains his innate goodness and his belief in the redeeming power of language. The result is a miracle of storytelling, bursting with heartache and hilarity.

Half Apache and mostly orphaned, Edgar Presley Mint's trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven, when the mailman's jeep accidentally runs over his head. As he is shunted from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, comedy, pain, and trouble accompany Edgar through a string of larger-than-life experiences. Through it all, readers will root for this irresistible innocent who never truly loses heart and whose quest for the mailman leads him to an unexpected home.