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13-year-old Henry Valentine is the school's star pitcher and 4-H president, is intoxicated by first love of a young girl, and all seems right with his world of 1952 racially separated East Texas.

Then he is confronted by an unlikely antagonist, a colored boy who challenges him in his town, bests him in a pitching duel, and fights him in the vacant lot outside of town. A wary distance become... More

13-year-old Henry Valentine is the school's star pitcher and 4-H president, is intoxicated by first love of a young girl, and all seems right with his world of 1952 racially separated East Texas.

Then he is confronted by an unlikely antagonist, a colored boy who challenges him in his town, bests him in a pitching duel, and fights him in the vacant lot outside of town. A wary distance becomes an unexpected friendship when they discover a common love for Texas beauty.

He is devastated when a corrupt congressman sacrifices Henry's friend to win re-election, and receives no sympathy or help from his disapproving family, church, and town.

He finds support in the feisty, independent-minded widow with a taste for liquor in her lemonade who helps him fight against the powerful using only the tools of an innocent and powerless boy.

In the end he learns the value of standing for what he believes in face of opposition, and discovers that there is nothing more powerful than a boy--or a man--who knows who he is.

Note: Contains scenes and language appropriate for the time and characters.

This book is a 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) quarter-finalist.

"Ben and Henry, the touchstones of the story, are charismatic and nuanced individuals" -- Publishers Weekly review, from the ABNA submission.

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