Monday, August 25, 2008

Hometown Favorite-Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold

Hometown Favorite
Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold
Revell, Sep 2008, $19.99
ISBN: 9780800719142

Although their team lost the Mississippi state championship game, the three stars remain heroes in Springdale as they go off to college. Wide receiver and linebacker Dewayne Jobe gores to USC; quarterback Sly Adams to Miami; and linebacker Jesse Webb to Mississippi. Dewayne and Sly become superstars contending for the Heisman while Jesse’s career ends with an injury. At school Dewayne meets affluent Rosella Caldwell; they fall in love and marry.

Dewayne and Sly go to the NFL as stars while Jesse dies in a drunken driving incident. Dewayne, Rosella and her parents rescue her nephew Bruce and her niece Sabrina from their addicted mom Bonita. Rosella gives birth to their child. Dewayne is on top of the world and thankful to the Lord, his widowed mom, and his wife until a tragedy, a personal life threatening health issue and betrayals by loved ones leave him to understand how Job felt.

Using football as a mechanism Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold modernize the story of Job as several traumatic incidents in a short time leave Dewayne in all sorts of anguish. Will he blame the Lord for deserting him or will he seek solace in the Lord while going through incredible layers of traumas? Young adult fans will appreciate this inspirational tale of the football star sacked several times until his life seems fumbled away.

Harriet Klausner

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