Dave's refuge after a clash with his father is with Kate, an elderly neighbor whose apartment is filled with stray cats she loves.

While documenting Dave's growing maturity, the book also provides glimpses of a few of New York's neighborhoods and attractions, from the Fulton Fish Market to the Bronx Zoo and Coney Island.

Dave is nearly hit by a car, and is saved by Kate, an older woman who takes him back to her apartment, which she shares with numerous rescued stray cats.

Later, Dave makes an offhand remark to the superintendent of that apartment about the older boy, which leads the super to discover the basement has been robbed.

Dave is initially concerned that he is a suspect and changes his appearance, but the older boy, Tom Ransom, 19, was caught trying to return the things he had stolen on a dare.

Hilda fills Dave in on Tom's getting kicked out of NYU and his father disowning him, which led up to his accepting the dare in the basement.

[2] Dave bumps into Mary, the quiet brunette from his trip to Coney Island with Nick, at a record store.

The family is stuck in heavy traffic on the Hutchinson River Parkway, when Cat escapes through an open window.

[2] Dave and Ben visit the Bronx Zoo and an adjacent park to research native animals for a biology project.

[2] Dave and Mary continue their Columbus Day date together by riding their bikes to catch the Staten Island ferry.

[2] Dave receives an unexpected phone call from Mary, who was shopping at Macy's and missed a rendezvous with her mother, and now does not have enough money to get back home.

"[1] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1956 to 1965, librarian Carolyn Horovitz wrote: "The author's sensitive, intuitive knowledge of a young boy living in New York seems to be far greater than her ability to bring this into absolutely true focus.