STUMPTOWN KID

Eleven-year-old Charlie loves baseball and misses his father, who was killed in the Korean War. When Charlie tries out for the premier baseball team, he’s disappointed when he doesn’t make the cut. Along comes Luther Peale, a former baseball player in the Negro League, whom Charlie persuades to coach his “Stumptown” team. Things take a turn, though, when a crime Luther is accused of comes to light and race relations in the town take an ugly turn. Terry Bregy’s narration makes 1952 Holden, Iowa, seem real. His softer register gives tones of both patience and exasperation to Charlie’s mother as she navigates being a single parent. He imbues Luther with a slower, unruffled cadence as he coaches Charlie’s team and faces down his past. A.R. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2010]