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The Aurora County All-Stars
Twelve-year-old House Jackson--star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars--has been sidelined for a whole sorry year with a broken elbow. He's finally ready to play, but wouldn't you know that the team's only game of the year has been scheduled for the exact same time as the town's200th-anniversary pageant. Now House must face the pageant's director, full...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
August 1st 2007
by Harcourt Children's Books
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This book was absolutely the most boring book I have ever read. It was so boring that I had to quit reading it before I finished (I barely do that). The subject of the book was kind of like High School Musical, which is not the best in book form (if you ever read this book you will discover this too).
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Mar 04, 2013
Sterlin Perry
added it
Aurora County All-Stars
Upon reading the first 40 chapters of this book the story never really began. If you like action packed or fast paced books than this defiantly isn't for you. The first few chapters give information on people, the rules of the neighborhood and old stories and past experiences of the characters.
As a reader who hasn't finished the book yet I haven't really gotten to anything I consider exciting. From what I've read the book chronicles a young baseball player named House Ja...more
Upon reading the first 40 chapters of this book the story never really began. If you like action packed or fast paced books than this defiantly isn't for you. The first few chapters give information on people, the rules of the neighborhood and old stories and past experiences of the characters.
As a reader who hasn't finished the book yet I haven't really gotten to anything I consider exciting. From what I've read the book chronicles a young baseball player named House Ja...more
Deborah Wiles authored one of my favorite novels from last year, each little bird that sings. The Snowbergers are in this one, as well as Ruby Lavender, who is featured in another of Deborah Wiles' book, Love, Ruby Lavender.
But this one featured House Jackson, a 12 year old boy that I was introduced to by the fact that he found an old neighbor dead in his bed.
House had been reading to the bedridden man for months, after breaking his arm at the worst moment any 12 year old boy could fathom: befor...more
But this one featured House Jackson, a 12 year old boy that I was introduced to by the fact that he found an old neighbor dead in his bed.
House had been reading to the bedridden man for months, after breaking his arm at the worst moment any 12 year old boy could fathom: befor...more
Aurora County All-Stars has a fantastic beginning. The book begins with House Jackson watching his neighbor, Mr.Norwood die. This is not House's first time seeing someone he loves die. House had watched his mother die about six years ago. This book takes place in Aurora County and is all about House swallowing his toads, his mother used to say. During this book House finds out that he has more of a relationship with Mr.Norwood than he thought and on the way hurting his pitching arm right before...more
I still love Each Little Bird That Sings the most, but this one was very good, too. Boys might like this one better than the previous two. I would've probably given it a 5 if I liked baseball better! House Jackson, 12 years old, is the star pitcher and captain of the Aurora County All-Stars, but has been nursing a broken elbow. As he gets ready to play again, the town schedules its 200th anniversary pageant the same day as the only game of the year. Also, House was there when Mr. Norwood Boyd, t...more
Wow - I loved this book from beginning to end. I laughed, I cried, I was proud to be a ballplayer. The Aurora County All-Stars absolutely captures the spirit of community and the spirit of baseball. It lovingly weaves the proud tradition that is our nation's pasttime (do not even suggest otherwise!) with the struggles of a 12-year-old's search to understand life, death, and what the days in between are supposed to be about. I will include quite a few passages in my, well, notebook of favorite bo...more
The baseball stuff and the Walt Whitman stuff was genuinely wonderful, but I couldn't help feeling just the teensiest bit manipulated. It was all so heartwarming and carefully constructed. This is not to say it wasn't deliciously written, and I could even forgive the small Southern town motif (I am getting very very tired of these), I could just see where my heartstrings were going to be tugged, and tugged they were.
My favorite of the trilogy, and I liked Each Little Bird a lot! Maybe it was the male main character, the focus on baseball, the interesting dynamics between people, the well developed story line, I don't know, I liked it all.
House Jackson just wants to play baseball, but a broken elbow put him out of commission for last year's big game. He's determined that nothing will stand in his way this year, but when the town pageant, that every kid is required by their mamas to participate in, is scheduled for the same day he fears that he might never be able to play.
I hesitate to even describe the book at all because the baseball game barely scratches the surface of this story, and readers shouldn't write it off as just anot...more
I hesitate to even describe the book at all because the baseball game barely scratches the surface of this story, and readers shouldn't write it off as just anot...more
This really good book is about House Jackson, a 12-year old baseball fanaticic living in a small town. He is the team of the Aurora County All-Stars, and guess what he has a big secret. He has been hanging out in the afternoons by a weird old man for the last year because of a broken arm, locally known as Mean-Man Boyd, nobody can know.He is ready to play ball again but his teams biggest and only official game might canceled due to the same girl who broke his elboe. She and House bumped into eac...more
Quirky characters + little league + "Let's put on a show!"
There are a lot of big issues hidden in this seemingly light-hearted book: Racism, sexism, death, integrity, friendship, etc. This will appeal to the deep thinking intermediate reader as well as the skimmer.
It bothered me a little that I could never figure out the time setting of the novel. I kept picturing 1950s or 1960s, but then they revealed that the Civil Rights movement was many years in the past, so I was a little confused. I liste...more
There are a lot of big issues hidden in this seemingly light-hearted book: Racism, sexism, death, integrity, friendship, etc. This will appeal to the deep thinking intermediate reader as well as the skimmer.
It bothered me a little that I could never figure out the time setting of the novel. I kept picturing 1950s or 1960s, but then they revealed that the Civil Rights movement was many years in the past, so I was a little confused. I liste...more
I am so glad I shared this with my kids. It was my second time reading/listening to it and I enjoyed it just as much. My daughter was afraid it was going to be boring at first since it has a baseball theme going but she was pleasantly surprised. Both kids said they really liked it. I want to get my own copy. This book is about facing problems and sometimes working them out but sometimes just having to overcome them. If you can get the audio version, DO!!!
I picked this book to read by searching f...more
I picked this book to read by searching f...more
House Jackson has a secret. After breaking his arm before the one and only Aurora County All-Stars aseball game last summer, he began visiting Old Man Boyd - a friend of the family - every evening. One morning Mr. Boyd dies and the truth about Mr. Boyd and his relationship to House's family and baseball.
Aurora County is all set to celebrate the one and only baseball game of the summer - but it is now complicated by the Aurora County pageant for the same day. House and Finesse, with her own relat...more
Aurora County is all set to celebrate the one and only baseball game of the summer - but it is now complicated by the Aurora County pageant for the same day. House and Finesse, with her own relat...more
Elle Joseph
7-1
2-28-08
The Aurora County All-Stars
The Aurora County All-Stars By Deborah Wiles. The genre is .......... This book has many secrets to be told. All the characters have their own unique ways. House Jackson one of the main characters Twelve-year-old House Jackson, the Aurora County All-Stars captain and star pitcher, has slogged through the preceding year with an out-of-commission elbow. The 14-year-old Frances Shotz, the girl who broke House's elbow. One of the biggest and only game...more
7-1
2-28-08
The Aurora County All-Stars
The Aurora County All-Stars By Deborah Wiles. The genre is .......... This book has many secrets to be told. All the characters have their own unique ways. House Jackson one of the main characters Twelve-year-old House Jackson, the Aurora County All-Stars captain and star pitcher, has slogged through the preceding year with an out-of-commission elbow. The 14-year-old Frances Shotz, the girl who broke House's elbow. One of the biggest and only game...more
Baseball,Poetry, and Ballet...hmmm...you would never think they could come together, but they do! House Jackson, ace pitcher for the Aurora County All-Stars broke his elbow last year, or should I say, a girl named Finesse, accidently caused him to break his elbow. This event caused him to miss all of last year's baseball season and they lost to their rivals, the Redbugs. OUCH! His recuperation included spending time with a crotchety old man in a decrepit house that every kid in Aurora is mortall...more
A warning: don't mope around and say "this one just isn't tugging at my heart-strings like Each Little Bird That Sings or Love, Ruby Lavender," because it can only end one way. In tears. Just have faith in Deborah Wiles; no matter what else she may do with the book, she WILL tug at your heart-strings (as the cover blurb on Kitri's just-picked-up-from-the-library copy of Ruby Lavender claims). This one has a slow start, and I didn't feel like I really knew House until quite a ways into the book,...more
This one is tough to give a rating. I found myself irritated by several things: the highly PC way of describing African American characters' skin tones: chocolate, pine cone, coffee beans... If the non-black characters are equally treated, with milk, honey, peach, etc. skin tones, I probably would have been more forgiving; Honey's incapability of pronouncing the dog's name (Eudora is an unusual name but YouDoggie is DEFINITELY NOT similar in sounds... and she's not insisting on calling the dog Y...more
Old Mean-Man Boyd is dead, to begin with. House Jackson saw him die. Saw him draw his last breath on a warm summer morning and secretly called the ambulance to take the man away. On the one hand, this is good news. Now House can play more baseball and hope to beat the only other team around for miles on July 4th, the sole day of the year that they play. On the other hand, House grew close to the old man as he read to him. So close that he hasn't told anyone, not even his best friend Cleebo, abou...more
Grades 3 and up
i liked this book and it has some fine moments but there were some pacing problems and some of the beautiful Walt Whitman quotes will be lost of younger readers. The title and cover make you think it is about baseball, and while baseball does play in this book, the real focus is lessons on life and acceptance of others. I am not sure that the kids that will pick this up for the cover will be able to relate so this one may be best as a read-aloud so that an adult can help translate...more
i liked this book and it has some fine moments but there were some pacing problems and some of the beautiful Walt Whitman quotes will be lost of younger readers. The title and cover make you think it is about baseball, and while baseball does play in this book, the real focus is lessons on life and acceptance of others. I am not sure that the kids that will pick this up for the cover will be able to relate so this one may be best as a read-aloud so that an adult can help translate...more
I was already a big fan of Deborah Wiles before I read this book, so I was certain I would enjoy it. House Jackson learns a lot at the young age of twelve. He already knows a lot when it comes to his favorite sport, baseball, and it is because of his love of baseball that he ends up learning some lessons in friendship, loyalty, the importance of community and even love. A variety of clever and endearing characters make this a worth-while read.
What a fun, sweet book. I picked this one up because it is nominated for a Bluestem award in my state next year. I love Wiles's books - but didn't realize this one was in a series with Ruby Lavender. I truly enjoyed the character of Homer and his relationship with his dad. Loved how Whitman's Leaves of Grass was a thread weaved throughout the book. Made me want to pick it up to read as well.
I listened to the audio version of this book and loved it! Kate Jackson's southern drawl captures the feel of a small town in the South (Mississippi), a neighborhood gang of kids, a mysterious old man's death and a neighborhood game of baseball. All are woven together to make an all-around great story. I have always loved Deborah Wiles' writing but I'm very glad I listened to this one rather than read it
The Aurora County All-Stars is a great story. It is about a boy named House who is the Captain of a baseball team called The Aurora County All-Stars. House's team plays one game every year. It is on the 4th of July at 4 P.M. The problem is that the Pageant is scheduled at the same time on the same day, and nothing can be changed. House and all of the rest of the team are forced to be in the pageant. What can House do to solve the problem? You should read the book to find out.
The Aurora Country All-Stars was a great book. In this book House Jackson is a pitcher but has an arm problem. But this book is also great in the parts outside of the game where House spends time with a so-called baby-eating old man and works with his little sister Honey. This is a great story with humor and with a great moral of commitment to the game!
A 2011 Bluestem Award Nominee that is immediately engaging even if you are not a fan of baseball. A couple in our new subdivision spearheaded a successful campaign to build a baseball diamond in our park this year, so this book had a significant appeal for me. I also liked the fact that a girl plays an important role in the story.
When my nine year old recommends a book I read it. And this one I really liked! Only beef with it is one that I have with sports culture that encourages kids to play through the pain. It was an important part of the story but it gets me when that gets glorified. Still, I enjoyed the book thoroughly.
Fans of Deborah Wiles other books, LOVE,RUBY LAVENDER, and EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS will also enjoy this story. This book takes place in the same hometown and has brief appearances by characters from the other books. While I enjoyed this story, I will admit that I didn't love it as much as the other two.
Aug 04, 2011
Deborah Bobo
added it
If you like quirky small towns and baseball, this is a cute story. Not quite as good as her last effort, Each Little Bird That Sings, but a good read. Touches on race relations, friendship, and helping others. I love "Youdoggie!" Wiles' characters names are always interesting.
The quotes from baseball greats and from Walt Whitman were interesting. The overall message about being OK with death and life marching on, in symphony, was good. I thought the first half of the book was a bit awkward, and corny, but it came together better in the second half.
A gateway book for those who will some day love quirky stories about small southern towns filled with colorful characters with unusual names.... gentle in tone, small in focus, with some baseball play by play. Well written and sweet, but I wonder if this is one of those books that will appeal more to adults than kids?
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Deborah Wiles was born in Alabama and spent her summers in a small Mississippi town with an extended family. She writes about them and they live on in her stories.
She has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College and taught at Towson University in Maryland, Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at Vermont College.
Deborah has written three novels about growing up in the south. They are k...more
More about Deborah Wiles...
She has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College and taught at Towson University in Maryland, Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at Vermont College.
Deborah has written three novels about growing up in the south. They are k...more
