Stumptown Kid by Carol Gorman; Ron Findley
	List Price:   $15.95 Unit Price:   $12.76 You Save:   $3.19 (20%) ISBN-10:   1561453374 ISBN-13:   9781561453375 Publisher:   Peachtree Publishers Category:   Beginning Readers Pub. Date:   April 2005 Pages:   224 Format:   Trade Cloth Ages:   8 to 12 Grades:   3 to 7
Description/Notes
In a small Iowa town in 1952, eleven-year-old Charlie Nebraska, whose father died in the Korean War, learns the meanings of both racism and heroism when he befriends a black man who had played baseball in the Negro Leagues. Gorman and Findley pen the moving story of an unlikely friendship between a young white boy and a black baseball player set against the dramatic backdrop of turbulent race relations in 1950s America. Twelve-year-old Charlie Nebraska wants two things he can't get: to make the local Wildcats Baseball team and to have life return to the way it was before his father died two years earlier in the Korean War. Then Charlie meets Luther Peale, a stranger who quietly arrives in the small town of Holden, Iowa, and sets up camp near the river. Luther is a former Negro Baseball League player, and Charlie loves baseball. The two strike up a friendship and Luther agrees to coach Charlie's fledgling neighborhood baseball team for a game against the Wildcats. But many of Holden's white residents are suspicious of Luther because of his skin color. And when Charlie inadvertently reveals a secret of Luther's, violence erupts in the town and both Luther and Charlie are drawn into serious danger. Authors Carol Gorman and Ron Finley have created two highly memorable, emotionally complex characters in this dramatic story that illustrates the meanings of friendship, prejudice, and heroism. Charlie wants two things he can't get: to make the local Wildcats baseball team and to have life return to the way it was before his father died two years earlier in the Korean War. Then Charlie meets Luther Peale, a former Negro Baseball League player who agrees to coach Charlie's fledgling neighborhood baseball team for a game against the Wildcats. But many of Holden's white residents are suspicious of Luther because of his skin color. And when Charlie inadvertently reveals a secret of Luther's, violence erupts in the town and both Luther and Charlie are drawn into serious danger.