by Vince Vawter
First published 2013
An eleven-year-old boy can throw the fastest pitch in Memphis, but he cannot say his own name without stuttering. In July 1959, he agrees to handle his best friend's paper route. The job forces him to talk with customers he has never met. He encounters a woman who drinks heavily and a former sailor with endless stories. Each delivery becomes a test of courage. The real danger comes from the neighborhood junkman, a violent thief who threatens anyone in his path. When this bully targets the boy and his family's housekeeper, the summer job turns into something far more serious. The boy must find his voice in ways he never expected. His struggle with speech becomes a fight for survival in the segregated South.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, coming-of-age
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Memphis
Period: 1959
224 pages · Hardcover · Delacorte Press
Content warnings: racism