Nine-year-old Patsy Foster and her brother and sisters lived in a houseboat on the Mississippi River. When her father felt that they had stayed long enough in one place, the family moved along with the river to new places and new friends.

Patsy loved the river, for she had lived on it most of her life. She and her family fished and swam from the porch of the houseboat, and it was exciting to visit each new town they came to. All went well until one day her father was ordered off the river bank by an irate fisherman. How Patsy helped settle the altercation and how the houseboat became a real home makes an unusual and dramatic story.

Lois lenski lived for six weeks in a river town on the Mississippi. She visited Patsy's family on their houseboat and shared and listened to their adventures. She has described their life and their philosophy in an exciting, different story that young readers will love. The warm, happy Foster family of Houseboat Girl will bring the river and its people close to boys and girls all over the country.

From the dust jacket