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Summary
Summary
Twelve-year-old House Jackson--star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars--has been sidelined for a whole sorry year with a broken elbow. He's finally ready to play, but wouldn't you know that the team's only game of the year has been scheduled for the exact same time as the town's 200th-anniversary pageant. Now House must face the pageant's director, full-of-herself Frances Shotz (his nemesis and perpetrator of the elbow break), and get his team out of this mess. There's also the matter of a mysterious old recluse who has died and left House a wheezy old dog named Eudora Welty--and a puzzling book of poetry by someone named Walt Whitman. Through the long, hot month of June, House makes surprising and valuable discoveries about family, friendship, poetry . . . and baseball.
Author Notes
DEBORAH WILES is the award-winning author of Each Little Bird That Sings, a National Book Award finalist; Love, Ruby Lavender, an ALA Notable Children's Book, a Children's Book Sense 76 Pick, an NCTE Notable Book for the Language Arts, and a New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing; Freedom Summer , a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; The Aurora County All-Stars, a New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing; and One Wide Sky. She lives in Georgia. www.deborahwiles.com
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-9-Wiles revisits the rural Mississippi setting of Love, Ruby Lavender (2001) and Each Little Bird That Sings (2005, both Harcourt). House Jackson, 12, lives to pitch and still mourns the death of his mother six years earlier. "Swallow your toads early in the day," she would say. Now, House's "toads" include the death of a mysterious 88-year-old neighbor, the town's bicentennial pageant, and, worst of all, Frances Shotz. The previous summer, a collision with the 14-year-old left House with a broken elbow and canceled his baseball season. Frances, who styles herself Finesse and flavors her speech with French, is the artistic director of the pageant, which threatens to cancel his team's annual July Fourth game. House sorts his way through a thicket of problems while surrounded by colorful characters, many from the earlier books (Ruby has a key role). There's a graceful air of nostalgia as children scuff along dusty roads, trailed by an old dog named Eudora Welty. Wiles's prose is keenly observant and not to be read hurriedly. This is a slow-simmering stew of friendship and betrayal, family love and loyalty, and finding oneself. At times, it threatens to get out of hand, but the author keeps things in check with down-home humor. In this moving homage to the power of words, House eventually finds a way to resolve his problems in the stirring example of his baseball hero, Sandy Koufax; Whitman's Leaves of Grass; and his mother's voice reminding him to "listen for the symphony true."-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Batter up! National Book Award finalist Wiles (Each Little Bird That Sings) delivers the third book set in her fictional Aurora County-a more boy-friendly read than its predecessors, with plenty of talk about baseball and what constitutes a stalwart team. Twelve-year-old House Jackson, the Aurora County All-Stars captain and star pitcher, has slogged through the preceding year with an out-of-commission elbow. Instead of playing baseball, he's spent most of his time indoors, reading the classics to an old recluse, Mr. Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd. But when Mr. Boyd dies, House is reminded of his itch to play. Unfortunately, the All-Stars' only game of the year is scheduled for the same day as Aurora County's 200th anniversary pageant, an event directed by pesky 14-year-old Frances Shotz, the girl who broke House's elbow. After a series of minor mishaps, betrayals and bouts of miscommunication, House and Frances work out a hilarious compromise that all readers can root for. In the spirit of Ernest Thayer's poem, "Casey at the Bat," the energy during the game mounts, and sports fans will be on the edge of their seats to see which team triumphs. Quotations from Walt Whitman's poetry, baseball players and Aurora County news dispatches pepper the story and add color; Love, Ruby Lavender fans will enjoy Ruby's fortuitous cameo. A home run for Wiles. Ages 10-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter 1To me, every hour of the day and nightis an unspeakably perfect miracle.WALT WHITMANMr. Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd, age eighty-eight, philanthropist, philosopher, and maker of mystery, died on a June morning in Mabel, Mississippi, at home in his bed.He died at the simmering time just before daybreak. Crickets tucked themselves under rocks for the day. Blue jays chitter-chattered in the pines. High above the treetops, cirrus clouds wisped across a slate blue sky.Mr. Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd lay unbreathing on a feather mattress surrounded by a carved rosewood bed frame with a high headboard that he had bought in Madagascar on his travels many years ago, before he closed himself up in his house with his treasures.All night long the June bugs had tap-tap-tapped against the glass panes at the open bedroom window, trying to buzz into Mr. Norwood Boyds room and touch the lamplight. As the light came into the day, the hard-shelled little insects fell into an opening between the glass and the screen, where they hummed together at the bottom of the window in soft confusion. Outside the window, deep in the tall weeds, a garter snake slithered in search of mice. It was June 17. A Thursday.Mr. Norwood Boyd died a quiet death attended by sky, clouds, crickets, birds, bugs, snakes, and one human being: House Jackson. House Jackson, age twelve, crackerjack baseball pitcher, obedient son, and keeper of his own counsel, had arrived just before the simmering time. He eased himself gingerly into a ladder-back chair next to the carved bed. He held his breath as he watched Mr. Norwood Boyd breathe and stare at the ceiling in a faraway silence. Instinctively for it had been his habit he reached for the book on the bedside table. Treasure Island. He opened it to the page that had been saved with a ribboned bookmark, and read out loud in a mechanical voice: Still, Silver was unconquered. I could hear his teeth rattle in his head; but he had not yet surrendered.At that moment, Mr. Norwood Boyd surrendered. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth. A rattling sound came from his throat. The smell of Mr. Norwoods rattled breath made House blink and sit back in his folding chair. That breath the sound of it and the smell of it traveled the entire room, spangling the air like a salute, as if that breath was a last farewell to the big old bed, a last farewell to the lighted lamp, a last farewell to the rose-patterned carpet, to the bureau where the clothes were kept, to the bedside table where water shimmered in the glass, and to House, who had been faithful.When there was no more rattle and no more breath, House did as he had been instructed to do. He called Doc MacRees office from the big black telephone beside Mr. Norwood Boyds bed. His fingers trembled as he dialed, and his voice cracked as he tried to speak.Mr. Norwood Boyd. He was out of breath. Who is this? asked a cranky-voiced Miss Betty Ramsey at the doctors answering serv Excerpted from The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.