Author(s): John Ed Bradley

Senior Fiction | Social Issues & Relationships

After eleven-year-old June Ball's dad disappears without so much as a note, June's mother sends him on the road with his adult cousins, Thomas and Cornell Ball. The Balls are "Ford Men"; their calling in life is to restore old Ford cars--and only Ford cars. So begins a summer traveling around the country, encountering broken-down Fairlanes, Thunderbirds, and Model Ts. They also encounter the cars' owners, who often need fixing of their own. June doesn't understand his cousins' passion for all things Ford, but in every town and city, there's a chance he might find his father. And at every turn, June realizes that this journey is about more than giving cars some TLC--there's room to restore the broken parts of humans, too. A story of adventure, longing, and growing up.

Review:

"Combining all the best features of a road trip and a coming-of-age tale . . . The back-roads odyssey, which takes on a ritualistic, dreamlike quality even as it takes the travelers from Wisconsin to Louisiana, of course parallels an inner one as June works through the grief-fueled anger sparked by the sudden disappearance of his dad." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Car fanciers will relish the details while the family issues will resonate with many readers . . . Offbeat and upbeat." --Kirkus Reviews

"For middle graders new to the road trip genre, there are few better routes to travel than Bradley's . . . The Ball brothers are the stars here, and Bradley makes them quirky enough to keep the tone light and big-hearted enough to demonstrate that any job done with skill and passion deserves--and gets--respect." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Author Biography: John Ed Bradley is the prolific author of several highly praised novels and a memoir, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium. A former reporter for The Washington Post, he has also written for Esquire, Sports Illustrated, GQ, and Play magazines. He lives with his wife and daughter in Mandeville, Louisiana.