Raid at Red Mill (Adventures in America Series) Book

Less intense, with a plot centered on Justin, in this sequel to Lost Goat Lane. Nice twists to the story lines involving the kids and their animals at the end.

"There must be such a thing as a Spread Factor, he thought with a grim smile. It would explain how something, say a glass of milk,could be an exact measurable amount, but if you spilled it, it spread out in a way that made it seem a lot bigger.
The Spread Factor would also explain why Mom always started off working a certain number of hours at her jobs, then gradually added more and more hours until neither of she nor they knew exactly when she would get home. And it could also explain why the more Justin tried to catch up in math, the more he kept running into things that he didn't understand.
Most of all, the Spread Factor would explain how his problems, which could be listed on half a single page of unlined of lined notepaper, once they got out, kept spreading like spilled milk, all over the neighborhood."

"That's when Justin realized three things. One, everybody has problems. Two, the worst problems are the ones where nothing you do will make any difference. And three, he was lucky that his problems were the kind he could do something about."