Phoebe Stone transitioned from a successful career as a fine art painter to captivating young readers. Her background in visual arts, marked by a unique, brightly colored narrative and metaphorical style, influenced many regional artists. Stone found she could merge her passion for images and words in picture books, often building upon her previous work in sequences. Her prose is celebrated for its poetic quality, earning acclaim for her novels and recognition for her illustrated works.
In a small, Virginia town, sixth-grader Jessie Lou Ferguson has a crush on the hugely popular Conrad Parker Smith, and when he suddenly develops a medical problem and the teacher asks Jessie Lou to help him, they become friends, to her surprise.