Collier, Kristi. Throwing stones, a novel.

COLLIER, Kristi. Throwing stones, a novel. Henry Holt. 207p. c2006. 0-8050-7614-X. $16.95. J

Back in the days when basketball was young, before every high school had a team, before professional sports had turned the game into big-time athletics, the small towns of Indiana were its nurturing grounds. This novel uses that backdrop, the early 1920s, the changes coming to rural America, Prohibition, the recently ended War to End All Wars, small town politics, traveling carnivals, and boyish hijinks, to frame its sports story. Fourteen-year-old Andy Soaring, one of two surviving siblings of an older brother who died in WW I, desires above all else to bring the light back to his father's eyes by excelling, as his brother did, at high school basketball. He is bedeviled in his attempts by a heavy load of farm chores, poverty, a prissy older brother, a charismatic rival for the attention of the girl of his dreams, corrupt politicians, and a friend who could well be classified as a Bad Influence, except he turns out all right in the end. Over the course of a tumultuous basketball season, beset by losses yet encouraged by small victories, Andy matures from a somewhat flawed protagonist to a more mature, generous hero. Young boys will read this for the sports showdowns and adults will smile because also included, free of charge, is a generous helping of American history. Myrna Marler, Assoc. Prof. of English, BYU, Provo, UT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.