Deborah Wiles Interview

I just found another great interview with Deborah Wiles from the August 2007 BookPage.

Aurora County Books

If you are enjoying The Aurora County All-Stars, you will definitely want to check out Deborah Wiles' first two books set in Aurora County, Mississippi:

Love, Ruby Lavender:

Woe is Ruby Lavender. She used to have a fun life, until her Yoo-Hoo-drinking, pink muumuu-wearing, best friend of a grandmother up and left for Hawaii to spend the summer with her new (smelly) grandbaby. Now Ruby is stuck in boring old Halleluia, Mississippi, reading to her chickens, sweeping floors at the general store (torture), and being tormented by the curly-haired, tip-tapping Melba Jane. In letter after letter, nine-year-old Ruby pours out her heart to her grandmother. But there is one thing Ruby cannot tell even her - the very same thing that makes Ruby take the long way home every single time and that makes her hate Melba Jane more than anyone.

Each Little Bird That Sings:

Ten-Year-Old Comfort Snowberger knows a thing or two about death. Her family owns the town funeral home and she has attended 247 funerals. She can tell you which casseroles are worth tasting, whom to sit next to, and whom to avoid at all costs. Number one on that avoid list is Comfort's sniveling, whining, unpredictable counsin Peach, who ruins every family occasion. So when Great-great-aunt Florentine drops dead - just like that - Comfort expects a family gathering to remember. What she doesn't count on is: One, she has to watch over Peach after the funeral. And two, her best friend, Declaration, has suddenly turned downright mean. Now, even if it means missing the most important funeral of her life, all Comfort really wants to do is sit in her closet with her dog, Dismay, and hide. But life is full of surprises. And the biggest one of all is learning what it takes to handle them.

Author Deborah Wiles

Deborah Wiles is the very talented author of The Aurora County All-Stars. Check out here website (be sure to read her Life Notice while you're there) and her blog, One Pomegranate.

There's also a great Aurora County interview with her here.

April Book

Our April book is The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles. We'll be meeting to discuss the book on Monday, April 28th at 3:30pm in the Children's Program Room. I have an extra copy of the book behind the Children's Desk if anyone needs one!

House Jackson, age twelve, star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars, has a secret. For the past year, while sidelined with a broken elbow, he has spent every afternoon at the bedside of a mysterious old man the other kids call Mean-Man Boyd - and he doesn't want anyone to know. Now House is finally ready to play ball again, but his team's biggest (and ONLY) game of the year might be canceled, thanks to the very girl who cause his broken elbow. It's almost too much to bear. But in the standoff that ensues, House finds a courage he didn't know he possessed - and discovers that just about everyone in Aurora County, Mississippi, has a secret.