Bleeding Kansas

"The family members worry, too, about who stands better with the Lord: their family or the Grelliers. When a Schapen cow gives birth to what may be a "Perfect Red Heifer"--Needed if the temple is ever rebuilt in Jerusalem - the Schapens feel convinced that God is indeed smiling on them." "Despite parental cautions, the Grelliers' teenagers are enraged by the Schapens. All their short lives, they and the young Schapens have fought, first in their country elementary school and now in high school. One particularly angry confrontation causes Chip Grellier to be expelled from school and consequently to join the army. Chip's death in Iraq is the catalyzing event for momentous, even monstrous, changes in the lives of not only both the Schapens and the Grelliers but of all the families in the Valley. The powerful, climactic scene at Gina Haring's Samhain bonfire will forever haunt the reader."--Jacket.