The Barn by Avi

It's 1855, and nine-year-old Ben is called home from school to find that his father had suffered a 'fit of palsy' as Dr. Flanagan diagnoses it. Ben isn't sure what a palsy is; all he knows is that his father - always tall and broad and strong, with a joke or a story for every minute of the day - is now lying on the bed limp and small, not moving or speaking or even seeming to recognize his children.

Ben's older sister Nettie - 15 years old and ready to marry - and brother Harrison - 13 and nearly a man himself - are almost sunk with despair. Since their mother had died several years earlier, there are only the three of them now to work their claim and care for their father. And neither of the older children are convinced that their father will long live.

Only Ben believes stubbornly that their father can and will recover - and he believes that the thing that will cure his father is building the barn Father always said he would build one day. It will be long hard work, just the three of them, but Ben is convinced that they can do it - and that they can have their father back.