I know a book is good when:
1. I find out it is all about baseball and I continue reading
2. I do not skim over the sport jargon and play by plays
3. I cry like a baby in front of whomever is sitting in a room when the surprise pinch hitter saves the game and all the pieces of the story come together.
Last year I found a gem of a book in Love, Ruby Lavender. I loved the language and the rhythm of the story. The vivid characters and the rich dialogue put the book on my list of all-time favorites. As a bonus I found out that it is actually part of a trilogy of books by Deborah Wiles about a small Southern community. I had read Each Little Bird That Sings aloud with my daughter when she was in fourth grade and still had time for read-alouds with me before bed. I just finished reading The All-Stars and can't recommend it highly enough. Besides all the qualities that made Ruby Lavender a great read, this book also carries a strong theme of community. Life in Mabel, Mississippi gets complicated when the annual little league baseball game, a 4th of July pageant and the death of the town's mysterious recluse Mr. Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd, age eighty-eight, happen to coincide. As the story unravels, friendships are tested, past wrongs are visited and the strengths of characters are measured in more than one way. At the end, folks in Aurora County realize that they are "each other's family". When one person in that family hurts, they all hurt and when one part wins, they all win. At the climax of the book past and present unite and the words of the mystery man begin to make sense: "It is hard to see inside someone's heart unless you have an invitation, and, even then, you must agree to come inside."
Of course, baseball lovers will love this book. But I think, as was the case with me, so will tender-hearted readers of all ages that love mystery, suspense and mistaken identities.
(image source: http://deborahwiles.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/all-stars-cover11-198x300.jpg)
1. I find out it is all about baseball and I continue reading
2. I do not skim over the sport jargon and play by plays
3. I cry like a baby in front of whomever is sitting in a room when the surprise pinch hitter saves the game and all the pieces of the story come together.
Last year I found a gem of a book in Love, Ruby Lavender. I loved the language and the rhythm of the story. The vivid characters and the rich dialogue put the book on my list of all-time favorites. As a bonus I found out that it is actually part of a trilogy of books by Deborah Wiles about a small Southern community. I had read Each Little Bird That Sings aloud with my daughter when she was in fourth grade and still had time for read-alouds with me before bed. I just finished reading The All-Stars and can't recommend it highly enough. Besides all the qualities that made Ruby Lavender a great read, this book also carries a strong theme of community. Life in Mabel, Mississippi gets complicated when the annual little league baseball game, a 4th of July pageant and the death of the town's mysterious recluse Mr. Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd, age eighty-eight, happen to coincide. As the story unravels, friendships are tested, past wrongs are visited and the strengths of characters are measured in more than one way. At the end, folks in Aurora County realize that they are "each other's family". When one person in that family hurts, they all hurt and when one part wins, they all win. At the climax of the book past and present unite and the words of the mystery man begin to make sense: "It is hard to see inside someone's heart unless you have an invitation, and, even then, you must agree to come inside."
Of course, baseball lovers will love this book. But I think, as was the case with me, so will tender-hearted readers of all ages that love mystery, suspense and mistaken identities.
(image source: http://deborahwiles.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/all-stars-cover11-198x300.jpg)
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