Barnstormers: The Tales of the Travelin' Nine
1 primary work • 2 total works
Book 1
LET THE GAMES BEGIN! #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LOREN LONG AND TEXAS BLUEBONNET AWARD WINNER PHIL BILDNER CREATE AN ACTION-PACKED PARABLE WHEREIN THREE SIBLINGS EMBARK ON AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME AND DISCOVER THE STRENGTH IN FAMILY, THE POWER OF FAITH, AND THE TRUE MAGIC OF BASEBALL.
The year is 1899, and the Travelin' Nine are criss-crossing the good ol' U.S. of A., raising money to pay off the Payne family's big-league debt!
Griffith knows the most about his family's troubles. So it's his job to set things right, because that's what his father would have done.
Ruby has noticed a change in her big brother. Suddenly he's acting anxious and secretive, and she's determined to find out why.
Graham just wants to hit the field. Deep down inside, he knows that everything would be fine if his brother and sister would let him step up to the plate and swing for the fences.
And then there's the baseball that, when held simultaneously by Griffith, Ruby, and Graham, triggers the miraculous.
Loren Long is the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of Madonna's Mr. Peabody's Apples and Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could. His first picture book, Angela Johnson's I Dream of Trains, won the SCBWI's Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration. His version of Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" was a Golden Kite Honor Book. A former vintage ballist, he lives in West Chester, Ohio. You can visit Loren at www.lorenlong.com.
Phil Bildner is the author of the Texas Bluebonnet Award-winning Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy and its companion, The Shot Heard 'Round the World; Twenty-One Elephants, which was an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award winner; and The Greatest Game Ever Played. In addition, he is the author of the teen novels Playing the Field and Busted. A devoted softball player, he lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can visit Phil at www.philbildner.com.
Josh Hamilton's films include Kicking and Screaming, The House of Yes, Alive, Diggers, Online, and Outsourced. New York Stage work includes The Coast of Utopia, HurlyBurly, Proof, This is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery, The Cider House Rules, As Bees in Honey Drown, and Suburbia.
The year is 1899, and the Travelin' Nine are criss-crossing the good ol' U.S. of A., raising money to pay off the Payne family's big-league debt!
Griffith knows the most about his family's troubles. So it's his job to set things right, because that's what his father would have done.
Ruby has noticed a change in her big brother. Suddenly he's acting anxious and secretive, and she's determined to find out why.
Graham just wants to hit the field. Deep down inside, he knows that everything would be fine if his brother and sister would let him step up to the plate and swing for the fences.
And then there's the baseball that, when held simultaneously by Griffith, Ruby, and Graham, triggers the miraculous.
Loren Long is the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of Madonna's Mr. Peabody's Apples and Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could. His first picture book, Angela Johnson's I Dream of Trains, won the SCBWI's Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration. His version of Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" was a Golden Kite Honor Book. A former vintage ballist, he lives in West Chester, Ohio. You can visit Loren at www.lorenlong.com.
Phil Bildner is the author of the Texas Bluebonnet Award-winning Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy and its companion, The Shot Heard 'Round the World; Twenty-One Elephants, which was an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award winner; and The Greatest Game Ever Played. In addition, he is the author of the teen novels Playing the Field and Busted. A devoted softball player, he lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can visit Phil at www.philbildner.com.
Josh Hamilton's films include Kicking and Screaming, The House of Yes, Alive, Diggers, Online, and Outsourced. New York Stage work includes The Coast of Utopia, HurlyBurly, Proof, This is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery, The Cider House Rules, As Bees in Honey Drown, and Suburbia.
PREGAME RECAP
As the Travelin' Nine head to Chicago, the team is filled with hope and optimism. After a disappointing loss in Cincinnati at the start of their baseball tour, the heroes of the Spanish-American War bounced back in Louisville. Doc and Woody came through with timely fielding, Crazy Feet and Tales smacked clutch hits, and champion horses provided that extra kick, helping the barnstormers to their come-from-behind victory.
By the end of the thrilling contest, there was no doubt in the minds of Griffith, Ruby, and Graham that the baseball their Uncle Owen had given to them on the night of their father's funeral was magical.
Indeed, the mysteries surrounding their baseball, which their uncle had urged them to keep secret, were deepening. And as excited as they were by the barnstormers' win, the Payne siblings' fears and worries continued to grow. Uncle Owen's tattered, bloody letter had warned them about the Chancellor. What's more, they'd seen the Chancellor's men lurking at the Louisville game. Griffith and Ruby now realized that their adventure was about far more than raising money to pay off a family debt. But what exactly was it about?
After the Louisville match, Griffith confronted his mother. She denied that the Chancellor could be involved, but she promised to answer all of Griffith's questions on the train to Chicago...