An intriguing premise collapses in Nelson's latest (Breathe My Name, 2006). Ronald Earl is Little Texas, a teen preacher with healing hands and growing doubts, whose ministry has only three other players-an old preacher, Ronald Earl's great-aunt, a revivalist by birth, inclination and trade, and Certain Certain, who exists primarily to make the plot work. Three competing elements-a crisis of faith, a ghostly love story (with Lucy, a girl Little Texas failed to save) and a haunted plantation-never quite jell. Poor pacing unbalances the whole, and many plot points never quite make sense or seem contrived, from how the ministry operates to Certain Certain's convenient flair for exposition. Some issues-Lucy's connection to the plantation-might be attributable to God's mysterious plan, but even Ronald Earl has trouble with that. The story's moral grounding in the evils of slavery is heavy-handed, and too much is telegraphed for the first-person narration to feel genuine, despite the skillful, colorful language. Ultimately, no amount of faith can fill the holes checkering this one. (Paranormal fiction. 12 & up)
Too late to run. I take one last, shuddery breath, then walk toward the pulpit. A wind from the sorghum fields hits me, and the pages flap all the way from Leviticus to First Corinthians. Even after all this time, I am never quite ready for the scream. It's here now, rolling over me. And I begin.
At sixteen, Ronald Earl is no longer the boy-wonder preacher known to the faithful as Little Texas. But on the tent-revival circuit, his adoring followers still roar and praise his name. When he lays his hands on to heal, the spirit still fills him, and he truly believes that he is an instrument for good in a wicked, treacherous world. But lately he has also felt this sliver, this little sliver...of doubt.
So when a girl in a blue dress is brought to him, nearly lifeless, he lays his hands upon her and feels a jolt shoot through him and into her. And as she smiles into his eyes, it seems that Little Texas has performed yet another miraculous healing. But Ronald Earl, he knows that something is not right. This one is different.
Another small town, another revival, and the same girl appears in that same blue dress. A day later, on the fringe of the believers-a flash of blue. Is she just another of the grateful and devoted? Or is she something else? And is she not following but haunting him?
Welcome, all ye faithful-and otherwise-to a ghost story, a romance, a reckoning. Come one, come all to Days of Little Texas.
Too late to run. I take one last, shuddery breath, then walk toward the pulpit. A wind from the sorghum fields hits me, and the pages flap all the way from Leviticus to First Corinthians. Even after all this time, I am never quite ready for the scream. It's here now, rolling over me. And I begin.
At sixteen, Ronald Earl is no longer the boy-wonder preacher known to the faithful as Little Texas. But on the tent-revival circuit, his adoring followers still roar and praise his name. When he lays his hands on to heal, the spirit still fills him, and he truly believes that he is an instrument for good in a wicked, treacherous world. But lately he has also felt this sliver, this little sliver...of doubt.
So when a girl in a blue dress is brought to him, nearly lifeless, he lays his hands upon her and feels a jolt shoot through him and into her. And as she smiles into his eyes, it seems that Little Texas has performed yet another miraculous healing. But Ronald Earl, he knows that something is not right. This one is different.
Another small town, another revival, and the same girl appears in that same blue dress. A day later, on the fringe of the believers-a flash of blue. Is she just another of the grateful and devoted? Or is she something else? And is she not following but haunting him?
Welcome, all ye faithful-and otherwise-to a ghost story, a romance, a reckoning. Come one, come all to Days of Little Texas.
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173745170 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Brilliance Audio |
| Publication date: | 07/14/2009 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 10 - 13 Years |
Videos
