Visit Deborah Wiles' new blog at deborahwiles.blogspot.com
Deborah's kicking off her tour and will be blogging while she's on the road! You can go along for the ride by visiting her blog or signing up to get updates by email
House Jackson, age twelve, star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars, has a secret. For the past year, while sidelined with a broken elbow, he has spent every afternoon at the bedside of a mysterious old man the other kids call Mean-Man Boyd—and he doesn’t want anyone to know. Now House is finally ready to play ball again, but his team’s biggest (and ONLY) game of the year might be canceled, thanks to the very girl who caused his broken elbow. It’s almost too much to bear. But in the standoff that ensues, House finds a courage he didn’t know he possessed—and discovers that just about everyone in Aurora County, Mississippi, has a secret.
Acclaimed author Deborah Wiles has created an utterly enchanting book about baseball, Walt Whitman’s poetry, a friend’s betrayal, and a chaotic anniversary pageant. Mysteries are revealed, friendships are healed, and everyone, from youngest to oldest, learns something about love, community . . . and baseball.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Deborah Wiles is the author of Each Little Bird That Sings, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the E. B. White Read Aloud Award, and Love, Ruby Lavender, an ALA Notable Children’s Book and a Children’s Book Sense 76 Pick.
Deborah was born in Alabama and spent her childhood summers in Mississippi. (In other words, she’s a Southerner through and through.) She grew up with applesauce cakes, ice-cold lemonade, sandlot family baseball games, and the captivating words of Charles Dickens and Walt Whitman. She now lives with her family in Atlanta, Georgia.
