Shadow of a Star - Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton was really something. Born on one ranch in 1926, and growing up on a different  one, Kelton had plenty of time to observe the cowboy life through his own eyes. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas, and served as editor for various agricultural and ranching publications for most of his life. But what makes Kelton so special is his success with writing western novels. Eight of his novels won the Spur Award given annually by the Western Writers of America in recognition for best western novel of the year. So, the group finally just decided to proclaim Kelton “the greatest Western writer of all time.” Heck, back in 1997 the Texas state legislature even proclaimed a special “Elmer Kelton Day” in his honor. In other words, Elmer Kelton may just be the Babe Ruth of westerns - underrated as I feel he still is even today. 

Shadow of a Star is Kelton’s 1959 western novel about Jim-Bob McClain, a young man still on the cusp of manhood who finally realizes the dream of his life: the sheriff he has admired for most of his young life hires him as his only deputy. In the truest sense of the term, Shadow of a Star is a coming-of-age novel, one in which this young man needs to get things figured out quickly so that he doesn’t die in the process. 

Sheriff Mont Taylor is showing his age now, and he’s recently had to fire his deputy because the man enjoyed the power that comes with wearing a badge a little too much. The ex-deputy doesn’t have that power anymore, but he has a new enemy: Jim-Bob McClain, the kid who replaced him. And he thoroughly enjoys watching Jim-Bob botch the first couple of incidents he’s called upon to handle - especially the one during which the young deputy’s gun is snatched from him as he attempts to handcuff a would-be prisoner. 

The climax of Shadow of a Star finds Jim-Bob McClain fighting to get a bank-robbing murderer to authorities before the locals catch up with him and lynch the man. Also on his trail, is a gang-of-three - including the prisoner’s elder brother - that intends to relieve Jim-Bob of his prisoner. Finally, within two miles of the town he’s so desperate to reach, both groups are closing in on him. And now, he realizes that he doesn’t have much of a chance of making those last two miles in one piece. His head tells him to give up; his heart tells him hell, no. 

Bottom Line: I don’t think that Elmer Kelton necessarily thought of Shadow of a Star as a YA novel, but that’s what I consider it to be today. Because it was written in 1959, it seems tame by today’s standards, especially when it comes to language, violence, and sexual relationships. Things happen, of course, but the details are largely left up to the reader’s imagination, making the novel, perhaps, more appropriate for today’s YA readers than for adults looking for a more gritty representation of the Old West. That aside, Elmer Kelton tells a good western story, and he gives a good feel for what that isolated lifestyle must have been like. Watching Jim-Bob McClain figure out who he is and what his badge represents to him and to the townspeople he protects makes for a satisfying experience for readers of any age.

Elmer Kelton: Texas Book Festival 2007

Is Stephenie Meyer Taking Her Fans for Granted?

Because I haven't read even one paragraph from any of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books, I can't claim to know anything about them other than what I've picked up second hand or from my own limited observation.  Based on seeing them in every bookstore I've been in for the last several years, I suspect they have all sold well.  I know that my granddaughter read and enjoyed the whole series and had to see all the movies based on the Twilight characters.  But as much as she liked the books, she did say that they are not very well written compared to a lot of other stuff she's read recently

But all that said, news today from USA Today that, rather than write a whole new novel...you know, one with a different plot...Meyer has chosen to re-write Twilight by simply flipping the genders of her main characters.  Maybe it's because this is so close to the same approach that the hack who made millions from Shades of Grey took recently in which she just retold her less-than-stellar novel from a different point-of-view, that Meyer's approach sort of bothers me.  It just seems lazy and presumptive on her part.  But I am willing to concede that her presumption that her fans are going to be willing to shell out big bucks again for anything with the Twilight logo on it is absolutely correct.

That's right, in Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, which is available today as bonus material in the 10th anniversary edition of Twilight, the gender of the two main characters (played by Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the film adaptations) has been swapped, and the book becomes the story of a female vampire and the human teenage boy she falls in love with. 

"A question that had come up at a lot of signings and other things was about Bella being a damsel in distress. And it’s always bothered me a little bit, because anyone surrounded by superheroes is going to be in a bit of distress," she said. "And so I thought if I switched it around a little bit to see how a boy does, and you know, it’s about the same."

 What changes when the genders change? Not too much. "The further you get in the more    it changes because the personalities get different," Meyer explained. "It’s just a love story, it doesn’t matter who’s the boy and who’s the girl." 

Perhaps I'm being a little too hard on Meyer for going in this direction, but that last sentence I quote from the article does not give me a lot of confidence in the quality of this or any of the other books in the series:


"It's just a love story, it doesn't matter who's the boy and who's the girl."  

Post #2,580

Resurrecting Lazarus, Texas

Simply put, if you are like most of us, reading Resurrecting Lazarus, Texas will make you feel good.

Coming-of-age novels, I suspect, have universal appeal because they remind us of our own struggles to reach adulthood in one piece.  We cannot help but see a bit of ourselves in well-crafted fictional characters trying to survive the emotions and temptations of adolescence long enough to successfully move on to the rest of their lives. We tend to root for those going through what we ourselves have already experienced.     

Author Nathan Barber so seamlessly combines high school basketball and the best elements of coming-of-age novels here that even non-sports fans will find themselves heavily invested in this story about a naïve coach from Houston and his new girls basketball team. But the teens are not the only ones coming of age here; their coach, as well as their town, will do some growing up.

Coach Gabe Lewis, short on varsity coaching experience, sees tiny Lazarus, Texas, as his last chance to snag a head-coaching job for the coming basketball season.  Little does he know, however, that the high school’s principal and its athletic director hire him mainly because he is a warm body they can get cheap – they could not possibly care less about the girls or their basketball season. In West Texas (as in the rest of the state), football is king, and no other sport comes all that close to it.

Nathan Barber

Coach Lewis and his girls will have to overcome numerous obstacles during the season, including the team’s own low expectations, the complete indifference of the town and fellow students, the aggressive hostility of other school athletes and coaches, and an emotional trauma that comes close to killing the whole community.  It is time for the girls and their rookie coach to show what they are made of – by coming of age in a very public and inspirational manner.  But can they pull it off?

Resurrecting Lazarus, Texas is one of those Young Adult novels that will inspire both its younger readers and their parents. As expected, the novel is filled with life-lessons, but those lessons are buried neatly inside an intriguing and inspirational plot – no heavy-handed lecturing. That approach should appeal to teen readers and parents, alike.

Willy's Ballgame

As the Houston Astros struggle through another death march of a summer (and as their asinine, Commissioner-dictated, transfer to the American League rapidly approaches), I find myself turning to baseball novels and memoirs for relief.  I have also adopted the St. Louis Cardinals as my new hometown team even though I have been to St. Louis only once…simply refuse to watch AL baseball on a regular basis…but that’s a story for another day.  Baseball fantasy does have a way of reminding me of what first so attracted me to the game all those years ago.  My most recent choice, Dennis Ricci’s Willy’s Ballgame, accomplishes exactly that. 

Willie Mae Beal has baseball in her blood – literally.  The 28-year-old, who stands two full inches over six feet, is the granddaughter of one Reuben Henry, a veteran of thirty years in the “blackball” leagues who began playing catch with Willy when she was just a little girl.  Reuben gradually transformed her into a pitcher in his own image, and Willy became a dominant softball player at Florida A&M.  Baseball is so much a part of Willy’s life, that despite now earning her keep as a poorly paid high school track coach, she still keeps her pitching arm in game shape.  This is her story.

Willie Mae Beal inherited more than her athletic body from her grandfather; “Rube” also passed on everything he knew about pitching strategy and deceiving hitters.  That he also taught her every pitch in the book, and that she has a 90 m.p.h. fastball and pinpoint control, is the icing on her baseball cake.  When circumstances combine to bring Willy to the attention of a major league player needing a strong arm to fill a spot on the Winter League team he is managing, her performance there surprises everyone. 

Dennis N. Ricci

This YA novel centers on the remarkable friendship of “Rube” Henry and his longtime friend, Amos “Teach” Jones, a man who played with and against “Rube” for an entire generation.  The friendship that Willy and Amos’s sons carry into the next generation turns out to be just as special to them.

Willy’s Ballgame will be an inspiration to young women unwilling to settle for anything less than they are capable of achieving.  And, although it might be less obvious at first glance, there is enough “baseball” in this one to keep male readers just as intrigued as young women will be by the novel’s storyline.  My only disappointment is with the book’s last three words: “to be continued…” I did not come away from Willy’s Ballgame with the sense of closure I like to feel at the end of a novel; younger readers, more attuned than I am to reading extended series featuring the same characters, may feel differently.