Days of Little Texas »

R. A. Nelson is the acclaimed author of Throat, Teach Me (called “vivid” and “hypnotic” by The Horn Book Magazine), and Breathe My Name (called “incandescent” by Kirkus Reviews). The strands of Days of Little Texas’s story came from Nelson’s dual fascination with ghosts (he might believe) and with the messianic showmanship of revival preachers.

R. A. Nelson lives with his family in north Alabama. Visit him on the Web at www.ranelsonbooks.com.

Known to the faithful as Little Texas, Ronald Earl King has been preaching on the revival circuit since he was ten.

He’s now sixteen, and his adoring followers still roar and praise his name.

So why is he plagued with dreams that are shaking his faith to its core?

When a nearly lifeless girl in a blue dress is brought before him, Little Texas lays his hands upon her just as he has done in countless other healings. But he knows that something is not right. This one is different.

More small towns, more revivals—and time after time, a flash of blue in the crowd. The same girl. Is she just another of the grateful and devoted? Or is she something else? Is she following Little Texas . . . or haunting him?

Publishers Weekly

Ronald Earl, at the center of this multidimensional coming-of-age/ghost story, earned the moniker "Little Texas" at age 10, after performing a spontaneous healing while touring with his great-aunt's tent-revival ministry. But at 16, burgeoning sexual feelings and the apparition of a girl named Lucy, who died when he failed to heal her, cause Ronald to question his integrity as a spiritual leader. When Ronald loses his composure on stage, his great-aunt and his two evangelical companions take him to a former slave plantation to deliver what is hoped to be his greatest sermon and to drive out a malicious force there. However, Ronald's understanding of the spiritual realm becomes even murkier as his relationship with Lucy develops. A chilling yet tender presence, Lucy challenges Ronald's beliefs with provocative insights: people who do "evil things" are "Already in hell. Nothing can be worse... than to live the life they are already living," she explains. At a dramatic final crossroads, Ronald discovers a kind of personal solace, but Nelson (Breathe My Name) offers no easy revelations, instead suggesting that human nature may be as unknowable as the supernatural. Ages 12-up. (July)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.