Twelve-year-old House Jackson, star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars, has been sidelined for a year with a broken elbow. Now that he's healed, the biggest game of the season is set for the same day as the pageant for the county's 200th anniversary. What's House to do?
This book should win an award for its marriage of creative design, storytelling, and journalism. The first of a planned trilogy, this "docu-novel" capitalizes on Wiles' ability to evoke empathy for her characters while expertly weaving together a time-period collage of images and headlines that set a marked tone and mood for the storyline. Political events impact family and community, and striking ...
It's 1962, and it seems everyone is living in fear. Eleven-year-old Franny Chapman lives with her family in Washington, D.C., during the days surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Amidst the pervasive threat of nuclear war, Franny must face the tension between herself and her younger brother, figure out where she fits in with her family, and look beyond outward appearances.
Wiles has created a unique, funny, and utterly real cast of characters in this heartfelt, and quintessentially Southern coming-of-age novel. Ten-year-old Comfort Snowberger will charm readers with her wit, her warmth, and her struggles, as she learns about life, loss, and, ultimately, triumph.
Joe and John Henry do everything together, from shooting marbles to shelling butterbeans. But when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed and the town pool is opened to blacks and whites alike, the two boys discover that the workers have filled in the pool with tar. This picture book is based on the author's own childhood growing up in rural Alabama and Mississippi. Full color.
Ruby Lavender has fun with her grandmother Miss Eula as they rescue chickens, paint a house pink and run their own secret post office. But what can Ruby dowhen Eula goes away?
Through powerful use of metaphor, mood, setting, and character development, Wiles crafts this documentary novel for impact; readers cannot walk away from this unchanged. The book's construction, sections of black and white photographs depicting US events during 1964, establish the tone and visually settle readers in a certain era. Several pages with a solid black background demand attention†...
