{"product_id":"9780971357891","title":"The Boys of Summers Run","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"HOMEMADE ICE CREAM\"\u003c\/b\u003e said one reviewer of the Summers Run Series, adding, \"there's a little Norman Rockwell\" mixed in a baseball book that's \u003cb\u003enot\u003c\/b\u003e a sports story. \u003cp\u003eYes, it's about farm boys and their Little League team, but \u003ci\u003eThe Boys of Summers Run,\u003c\/i\u003e follows Claude and his friends through the more serious lessons from life and loss while they \"build their dreams from grass and sand.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter the death of his father, Major Blake Kinkade, in Kuwait, Claude Kinkade and his mother, Daisy, arrive with their hopes teetering at the Kinkade's National Historic Farm, Shadeland. Here Claude traces the footsteps left by his departed father and senses Blake's shadow following him. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Claude's loyalty is spreading its cloak over Shadeland and his father's family, his mother's aglow with a new marriage proposal and a career move to Las Vegas. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMust Claude move as well? Will he lose the grounding he so yearns to embrace while working the fields and meadows of Summers Run? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e(\"Runs\" in rural Pennsylvania are those creeks and brooks lacing the countryside together. This is the story of one, Summers Run, where its ancient waters extend deep into the bedrock of the neighborhood. The Summers and Kinkade families have been united along its banks for generations, extending back into the 1790s.) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThen enters Nathean Summers,\u003c\/b\u003e Claude's second cousin, recently returned to the community from a film and television career. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNathe rocketed to stardom in the 1960s, then faded when typecast as \"too country, too wholesome.\" He becomes not only the coach of the Panthers Little League team but a father figure for Claude, the newly-minted farm boy. Claude finds Nathean so nearly the mirror image of Major Blake Kinkade, he's inspired to matchmake Daisy and Nathe. His efforts seem destined to fail. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Pickett Township Panthers suffer an aborted 1992 season. In 1993, they blossom. They challenge more seasoned teams and veteran coaches en route to regional championships. In Nevada, Claude begins playing baseball under the shadow of his mother's shaky marriage. His experience there echoes Nathean's observation: \u003cb\u003e\"It's not always your friends, Claude, who become your best teachers.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile life and baseball in Las Vegas take a bitter turn, Claude heeds Nathe's advice and adds their memories to his sense of balance. He returns to Summers Run and reunites with his old teammates. \u003cb\u003e\"It's summer,\" he tells us, \"and I feel my stride matching that of my tallest shadow.\"\u003c\/b\u003e Claude and his friends grow; sometimes within an afternoon. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boys of Summers Run\u003c\/i\u003e follows Claude's search for his father. Together with the other fatherless boys of the neighborhood--Tim, Aaron, Kevin, and Jeff--they negotiate the terrain their fate defines. Told from a perspective of two decades later, \u003ci\u003eThe Boys of Summers Run\u003c\/i\u003e describes the journey between boyhood and manhood. In essence: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The pure joy of being a boy,\" says Uncle Albert, one of Claude's mentors, \"it doesn't last long.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong the back roads of Summers Run, the reader encounters Tim, the deaf orphan who plays center field for the Panthers; P. M. Murphy, the reluctant recluse; and Standing Ovation, the black Angus bull and official mascot of the team. It too travels with the Panthers as they reach for the sunbeams shining on their field of dreams. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Premise? \u003cb\u003e\"The folklore of friendship suggests we may never find another chum, buddy, or pal like the one we were blessed with at age twelve. Tim was mine.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Along Country Roads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50008331780336,"sku":"9780971357891","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780971357891_p0.jpg?v=1784253091","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780971357891","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}