Never Hug a Nun

Kevin Killeen's debut novel, winner of a Silver Benjamin Franklin award from the Independent Book Publishers Association, is written with a keen sense of comic timing, and is a sweet, laugh-out-loud look at the innocence of childhood in the leafy Webster Groves suburbs of 1960s Saint Louis. From falling for a girl with no-good-for-sports stick arms and beautiful penmanship to jumping freight trains, smoking cigarettes, robbing the local Ben Franklin—and, in his spare time, trying to get to heaven—Patrick Cantwell is learning all about life at Mary Queen of Our Hearts parochial school. By the time Patrick graduates second grade he's practically a grown-up, complete with a broken heart, a police record, and memories of the Beatles at Busch Stadium.