Puddlejumpers - Hardcover

Jean, Mark; Carlson, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1423107594 ISBN 13: 9781423107590

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008

Synopsis

Ernie Banks, named for the legendary Chicago Cub shortstop, is a troubled, 13-year-old juvenile delinquent.  Abandoned on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys when he was three years old, he’s now considered a “lifer,” a permanent ward of the state.  His only proof that he once belonged to somebody is a vintage Ernie Banks baseball card, a crystal acorn he wears on a string around his neck, and a strange spiral birthmark on the bottom of his right foot.          

As a last reprieve before being sent to a juvenile detention facility, Ernie is allowed to spend three weeks on a working farm.  When Ernie arrives at the home of Russ Frazier, he learns that the widower’s baby was kidnapped years before.  The single piece of evidence was a red quilt found in a puddle in the nearby woods.  Fascinated by the town’s famous “Quilt Baby” kidnapping, Ernie is determined to solve the case.  He teams up with Joey, a local tomboy, to investigate clues that lead them on a dangerous journey into a forbidden world of dark secrets, magic puddles, and the cavernous underground kingdom of the Puddlejumpers— eleven-inch tall water creatures with whom Ernie has a mysterious connection.

When destiny summons, Ernie must find the courage to save the Puddlejumpers from the Most Dark and lead them in battle against their mortal enemies.  Only then can he find his way home.
 

About this title

About the Author:

Mark Jean and Christopher Carlson are screenwriters who collaborated on adapting Cynthia Voigt's young adult novel HOMECOMING for Showtime. This is their first middle grade novel.

From AudioFile:

Orphan Ernie Banks returns to rural Illinois to rediscover his past. He is the prophesied rainmaker for a tribe of ten-inch-high Puddlejumpers. Narrator Sean Kenin will have listeners rooting for Ernie to uncover his long-lost human family. Kenin's folksy, direct delivery is as intimate as it is appealing. We're drawn into the fantasy because Ernie Banks is all heart, and Kenin portrays him as such. Listeners won't want to leave him before his happy reunion with his father, not to mention his hair-raising Puddlejumper adventures. Other memorable characters include Joey, the irascible cowgirl, and salt-of-the-earth farmer Russ Fraser. Give a Puddlejumper cry of "hooty-hoo!" for this sparkling listen. C.A. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1423107594
• ISBN 13: 9781423107590
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336