The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles

House is a twelve-year-old boy who adores baseball, especially pitching.  But last summer he missed the only real game of baseball that their small town actually gets to participate in because someone broke his elbow.   While he was healing, he was asked to be a companion to a dying neighbor who was known throughout town as a baby eater.  The book opens with the death of that man whom House has become close to over their months together.  But none of his friends know what he has been doing with his spare time.   House’s summer is also complicated by the return of the girl who broke his elbow the previous year.  She is back to run a pageant for the town which just happens to conflict in timing with the only real baseball game of the summer!

Golly, I loved this book.  The characters in it were astonishingly well-drawn in such a short book, but that is because Wiles has used each phrase and sentence to clarify and reveal the characters and the town.  It is a joy to read. 

The timelessness of the book was also appealing.  These children, parents and the entire town could have been any time in the last 50 years. 

Highly recommended as a classroom read for 3rd through 5th grades, this book should be put in the hands of any child who enjoyed The Penderwicks.  They offer similar styles and that wonderful timeless feeling where children can sink into the story and feel safe.  Rather like bottled childhood in the form of a book.